The hosts of the Ready Set Go podcast are confident that Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred can go even faster, after setting a new personal-best mark last week to beat World champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in Zurich.
Alfred will go for the Diamond League 200m title in Brussels on Friday, having won the 100m title in 2024 and 2025. Wooden will not contest the Diamond League finale, but both will likely be at the Ultimate Championships, September 11-13 in Budapest.
Four-time global champion Justin Gatlin and former Bahamian athlete Rodney Green were pleased with the way the Saint Lucian star executed in Zurich, noting that from a sports science perspective, she put together an excellent run.
“The last time we spoke about how Julien needs to rely less on power from the blocks and trying to muscle the start, but instead rely on angles and put power into angles so she can be able to be right there in contention with Melissa when Melissa makes those moves at 45-60 metres,” said Gatlin.
Green concurred, but went on to offer some technical advice to the World Indoors Championships 60m winner and World Championships bronze medallist.
“This was a good race for Julien, but it wasn’t the best race, meaning her ceiling is still a little bit higher,” said Green. “But what I would like Julien to really do – her timing of her dip is really off. She’s always five metres out.
“And I’ve always said as a coach, a timed dip for one step is accelerated, but every other step will be decelerated… So, for the next couple of races, I would highly advise Julien to really try to time her dip a little bit better, a little bit closer to the line.”
Gatlin and Green say that with Alfred and Wooden producing at a high level this season, they are looking forward to runs of 10.6 or faster, which would be in the top five times ever. But they note that the Saint Lucian is constantly improving her technique.
“When we watched her run through college, it was all muscling the race. Watching her run a 200 and win the NCAA’s in the 200, it was a muscled race. 100 metres, it was a muscled race. And that was her superior trait that she had over everyone else,” said Gatlin.
“Now she’s learning how to have angles, how to have technique, how to have flight of trajectory, and how to be able to win when it’s necessary. And if she adds on that little bit of thing you said, don’t dip a little too early, run through the line… The great coach Brooks Johnson said, ‘If you want to break records, run through the line. If you just want to win, dip’.”
In addition to her 10.70 run last week, Alfred has also run 21.51 in the 200 this year, the third-fastest of all time. In Brussels, with US$60 000 on the line, Alfred is heavily favoured to win over a field that includes Great Britain’s Amy Hunt and Americans such as Jenna Prandini and Anavia Battle.
