Julien Alfred wins first ever Olympic medal in any sport for St. Lucia.
The most anticipated final of the day was the women’s 100-meter dash, where the fastest women in the world would compete for one of the most valuable titles in the sport. With many heavy hitters at play, it was difficult to choose who would win Olympic gold. However, one woman emerged and earned the right to call herself the best of the best.
Julien Alfred won St. Lucia’s first Olympic medal in any sport. It was a historic night for the small island, which has a population of only 180,000. Alfred continues to be her country’s pride and joy after her win today.
For many new fans or casual spectators, Alfred’s win may come as a surprise. She wasn’t featured in the Netflix documentary Sprint, and before today, she didn’t have the biggest social media presence. However, this gold medal is perfectly in line with the trajectory her career has been taking since her days as a University of Texas athlete.
While competing at Texas, she won the Bowerman, track and field’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, has several collegiate records and all-time bests, and won five NCAA titles her final year. Alfred acquired a sponsorship with Puma shortly after graduating in 2023.
Last year at the World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Budapest, Alfred placed fifth in the 100-meter dash final and fourth in the 200-meter dash final. This year, she won the World Athletics Indoor Championships title in the 60-meter dash.
Alfred entered the Olympic Games with the second-fastest time of 10.78 seconds. The only person faster than her was the 100-meter dash world champion, Sha’Carri Richardson.
Before their matchup could come, several concerning situations arose moving into the second session. Several hours before the semi-final races began, a video of eight-time Olympic medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce circulated on X. Fraser-Pryce expressed her frustrations about not being able to enter through the proper gate and go to the warm-up track due to not being on the required shuttle bus.
The security guards at the gate refused to let her through. She continued to state that this was not the protocol in the previous days and that attempting to enter the gate without being on the shuttle was not an issue. Another video also showed Richardson going through the same situation as Fraser-Pryce.
