The rains came down on Derek Walcott Square, as athletes lined up for Heat 1 of the women’s 100m semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Saturday afternoon. The showers did nothing to dampen the celebratory mood, as hundreds cheered the start of the semifinal series.
National hero Julien Alfred was drawn in Heat 2, against iconic Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and world champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the USA. The three were among the top five fastest qualifiers, and fireworks were expected.
Drama ensued, but not on the tracks at first. Fraser-Pryce, who had the second fastest time in the first round, withdrew before the start of the semis.
The Jamaican and the American had previously had some issues getting into the venue, as both arrived independently of their respective team buses. But there was no news forthcoming as to the reasons for the withdrawal.
Shrugging off the distractions, Alfred romped into the final with a time of 10.84 seconds, winning the heat and defeating the world champion. Richardson ran 10.89 seconds, but the crowd at the Square, and Saint Lucians worldwide, cared only to hear of Julien Alfred, the 23-year-old from Ciceron, the nation’s first Olympic track finalist.
Alfred’s time turned out to be the fastest of the semifinal round. She is into her fourth straight global final, after making the medal rounds of the 100m and 200m at the 2023 World Championships, and winning Saint Lucia’s first global medal, gold in the 60m earlier this year in the World Indoor Championships.
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Let’s go girl…. REPRESENT!!!
Win, lose, or draw.
We’re proud.
My nose pertrudes with a fresh sigh
I hasten to say that Miss ALFRED has won the 100Meter race, just about 2.00pm today, 3/8/24 beating out USA & Britain. I’m so proud of little St. Lucia.
Makes me think where are all the men? between the ages of 18 & 26, are they dead or locked up? but today I’m proud of my little ROCK, St. Lucia.
Let me say it now….we need more athletes representing Saint Lucia. All these men causing trouble in society could find something useful to do for their country..I urge Pierre to invest in getting more athletes to represent Saint Lucia in the various Olympic disciplines. This could be another strategy for combating the crime scourge we face…we need a multi faceted approach…..Miss Alfred was impressive in the semi-finals….and you can see she has more to give… It’s looking good, it’s looking really good…. LET’S GO!!!
Fabulous running by Alfred the Great! A GOLD medal for a great nation.
The champ. 🇱🇨 Julian Alfred
St Lucia wins gold in the Olympic women’s 100 metre final🤸🏿♂️🤸🏿♂️🤸🏿♂️
History made, defeated USA Richardson & Jefferson
Congratulations from India 🇮🇳
Alfred won the Gold for St Lucia. Congratulations to her. She make the country proud and she is a national hero.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL SAINT LUCIANS ( at home and abroad) AND TO MISS ALFRED….you have joined the ranks of great sporting nations to produce an Olympic Champion….and there is the 200m to come. The prospects are looking really good..Now let’s party all weekend…
Clearly was having a great day. Well deserved. Congratulations to Saint Lucia. What a great representative. Love her attitude.
God’s name is known in St Lucia 🇱🇨 and hits praise is great!!!
Thank you LORD ❗
Félicitations à Julien👏🥇🎉🎊🍾🥂
For making St Lucia a History !!
Congratulations St. Lucia. So glad that Julien let her running do her talking.
The splendor of winning gold in a sprint event is far reaching– just imagine that every single young Saint Lucian athlete of every single sport (basketball, football, track and field, X country, netball, volleyball, table tennis, swimming, sailing, etc etc) has an exponentially higher chance of being looked at and selected by university scouts and professional teams from around the world…ALL BECAUSE OF JUJU!!!! THANKS to her and all those who have worked with her to get there!
We love you Julian,Thanks for renewing our hope, Congratulations you look Amazing.
Julien👑🇱🇨
Congratulations to Ms. Alfred and St. Lucia!
A fan in the USA
i love the fact that she won the gold medal…the part i also enjoyed was when she was asked some of these nonsensical questions in her interview…..she was asked how does it feel not having the silver and bronze finalists seated next to her doesnt it feel lonely?? to that effect…and her response was basically that she was focused on reaching the goal doing well…its time we lucians start to think like that…throughout most of her answers she was focused on execution, not the persons next to her and having confidence in herself…as a people we need to ignore all the NOISE in any form around us (gossip, people, backbiting, small mindedness) when striving for the best…in the form of people, some of the noise will hate us but thats fine…i watched Julien in the race and her fierceness, her focus, her bravery just had me in awe…she was focused on nothing else but the prize….this girl is so motivating…so proud of Julien….continue to be focused…work hard…..do not interfere yourself in anything negative in the big cities…you know how media and the world can come down hard…lets take a chapter from that book..
Congratulations from Ghana, Julien. Very proud of you.
I went to school with a wonderful lady from Saint Lucia (Linda Zion). Since then I have been following Saint Lucia in everything. Today, I feel extra proud. It feels like she won for us all. Amazing! Keep up the great work. Thank you for putting Saint Lucia on the global map!!!
FINALLY ! Big up Ms Alfred It was the perfect storm storm so many top athletes and would record holders from Jamaica are NOT at the Olympics this year so we have to represent the region . I hope we get two more. We have big home coming plans for you my girl is am glad this happened under Labor.
I am keeping my fingers crossed and pumping my fist for the finals . Remember the likes of Shelly Ann Fraser did not run.
This girl won’t live in St. Lucia. Probably having a house. But her stay here won’t be a daily life. The sports ministry needs to come to reality.. stop being a hypocrite… Man I still trying to remember how many beers I had just sitting to watch my champion.
Julien Alfred is St Lucia’s first Olympic Gold medalist. I have nothing against the Carnival but If the money spent on carnival alone can be channelled to sports development, the life of the youths will be better, Crime will reduce. Julien Alfred has made Lucians all over the world feel more proud and patriotic of their Country than the Carnival.
My Opinion