Julien Alfred delivered a stunning performance in the 100m race at the Paris Olympics, securing the historic victory amidst a Paris downpour.
St. Lucia, a Caribbean island with fewer than 200,000 people, has finally won its first Olympic medal, and it’s a gold.
Alfred took the lead early and maintained her position, leaving American favorite Sha’Carri Richardson and others trailing.
Crossing the finish line in commanding fashion, she celebrated her victory by sprinting beyond the line and proudly displaying her name tag to the cheering crowd.
Alfred’s journey to this gold began with a world indoor 60m gold earlier this year, marking another first for St. Lucia.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist has steadily improved this season, setting a new personal and national record of 10.78 seconds in the 100m and a 21.86 seconds in the 200m.
Training in Austin, Texas, under coach Edrick Floreal and alongside British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, Alfred reached the finals of both the 100m and 200m at the 2023 World Championships, finishing fifth and fourth respectively.
Prior to the race, reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah from Jamaica was forced out of defending her title due to an Achilles tendon injury.
World 200m champion Shericka Jackson also chose to focus solely on that event in Paris.
Sha’Carri Richardson, the fastest woman in the world this year with a 10.71-second run in June, couldn’t match the Olympic debut performance of St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred, who won gold.
At just 23, American Tamari Davis claimed her first individual global medal by edging out Great Britain’s Daryll Neita.
