Beneath the floodlights at the Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre, Julien Alfred produced another historic result for Saint Lucian athletics, taking second place in the women’s 100m at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. The 25-year-old Olympic champion was behind only reigning World champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
Lined up in lane five between the American pair of Wooden in lane four and 2023 World champion Sha’Carri Richardson in six, Alfred entered the race following a blazing 10.73-second semifinal performance. Wooden took first place in a World-leading time of 10.62 seconds; Alfred ran 10.74; and Richardson finished well at 10.76 for third.
The final took place in 15-degree temperatures with a -0.2 metre-per-second headwind. Alfred produced the sharpest reaction time among the podium finishers at 0.144 seconds, compared to 0.163 seconds for Jefferson-Wooden and 0.173 seconds for Richardson. But it was Jamaica’s Tina Clayton who took the early lead.
Maintaining a low drive phase out of the blocks, Alfred and Wooden overtook Clayton and remained level through the first 40 metres. But the American pulled ahead and would not be caught, whilst Alfred held off Richardson’s late charge by two hundredths of a second.
Jonielle Smith took fourth ahead of fellow Jamaican Clayton, both timed at 10.94 seconds. They were separated by a thousandth of a second. Patrizia Van Der Weken followed in 11.06 seconds, with Lavanya Williams running 11.07 and Amy Hunt recording 11.09 seconds.
The second-place finish earned Alfred a US $75 000 payout from the championship’s record $10 million prize purse, marking one of the most lucrative single-race rewards of her career.
It’s been a huge season for Alfred, adding another major international achievement to her nation’s athletics record after setting national records in both the 100m and 200m and securing a third straight Wanda Diamond League title, her first in the 200m.
