Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred won her third Wanda Diamond League title in succession on Friday, blazing to victory in the women’s 200m at the 50th edition of the Allianz Memorial Van Damme in Brussels. She won the 100m title in 2024 and 2025.
With King Philippe, Queen Mathilde and Prince Gabriel present for opening night in the Belgian capital, Alfred powered to a winning time of 21.79 with a slight 0.1 metre-per-second wind behind her to electrify the King Baudouin Stadium.
Already in possession of the two fastest times in the world for 2026, Alfred’s winning run on Friday was the seventh-fastest for the season. It will be the last half-lap run for her, as she will focus on the 100m for the World Athletics Ultimate Championship next weekend in Budapest.
Running out of Lane 6, the 25-year-old from Ciceron faced early pressure off the bend from Kayla White of the United States. Out of the blocks with a 0.166 reaction time, Alfred covered the opening 100 metres in 11.25 seconds, trailing White (11.18) and Britain’s Amy Hunt (11.24).
But as the field swung into the homestretch, Alfred’s superior speed endurance became decisive. By the 160-metre mark (17.37), she overhauled White (17.41) and surged clear over the final 40 metres to finish more than two-tenths of a second ahead of the field. White took second in 22.00 seconds. Hunt had a season’s best of 22.16 seconds in third.
With just one more race to come next weekend, the Diamond Trophy victory caps a dominant year for the 2024 Olympic 100m champion. Beaten just once outdoors, she arrived in Brussels fresh off an impressive 10.70-second 100m performance at the Letzigrund in Zürich, along with a 200m run of 21.52 last month in Monaco.
