It was touted as a comeback story, with a sprint queen poised for her crowning moment after arguably missing out on her first opportunity in Tokyo three years prior. Some parts of the narrative were accurate, but the central figure was miscast.
Julien Alfred delivered a stunning performance, shattering the women’s 100m field and dashing Sha’Carri Richardson’s gold medal hopes. In doing so, Alfred made history as the first St. Lucian to win an Olympic medal, of any color, in any sport.
On a rainy Paris track, the 23-year-old Julien Alfred surged to victory in 10.72 seconds, finishing well ahead of the competition. Sha’Carri Richardson came in second with a time of 10.87, while US teammate Melissa Jefferson took third. Daryll Neita finished just outside the medals in fourth place, though her performance was the best by a British woman in an Olympic 100m final since 1948. Dina Asher-Smith did not advance past the preliminary rounds.
However, the mixed 4x400m relay team, featuring Sam Reardon, Laviai Nielsen, Alex Haydock-Wilson, and Amber Anning, earned a bronze medal. The race was thrilling, with the USA favored after setting a world record on Friday, but they were bested by an exceptional anchor leg from Dutch star Femke Bol.
This was Alfred’s true breakthrough, marking her first global outdoor medal. While it wasn’t entirely unexpected given her stellar season so far, it was still a significant milestone. Although she had won the World Indoor title in Glasgow in March, many top competitors, including Richardson, were absent. Richardson arrived in Paris as the favorite, the reigning world champion from Budapest last year, and remained the fastest sprinter on the planet even after the race.
Richardson, already a prominent and outspoken rising star in the sprint world, had been sidelined from Tokyo after testing positive for THC, a cannabis compound she used to cope with grief following her mother’s death while she was trying to qualify for the Games.
Alfred’s absence from Tokyo was less widely covered, due to an injury that ended her season. This came after an indoor season where her emerging talent had just started to gain attention in the American collegiate scene.
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