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Julien Alfred

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Julien Alfred
Alfred in 2024
Personal information
NicknameJuju
Born (2001-06-10) 10 June 2001 (age 23)
Ciceron, Castries, Saint Lucia
EducationLeon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School, St. Catherine High School, University of Texas
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Sport
CountrySaint Lucia
SportTrack and field
EventSprints
College teamTexas Longhorns
Coached byEdrick Floreal
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Saint Lucia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2024 Paris 100 m
Silver medal – second place 2024 Paris 200 m
Diamond League
First place 2024 100 m
World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Glasgow 60 m
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 2023 San Salvador 100 m
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2022 Birmingham 100 m
Youth Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2018 Buenos Aires 100 m
Commonwealth Youth Games
Gold medal – first place 2017 Nassau 100 m

Julien Alfred (born 10 June 2001) is a Saint Lucian sprinter. She won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 100 metres event, setting a new national record of 10.72s in the final. Her medal was the first-ever Olympic medal for Saint Lucia. She then won a silver in the 200 metres. Alfred also won the gold medal in the 60 metres at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Alfred was a silver medalist in the 100 metres at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She is the joint North American indoor record holder for the 60 metres, and was the first woman in NCAA history to break the seven-second barrier over the 60 m. Alfred is a three-time individual NCAA Division I champion.

Biography

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Alfred was born in the south Castries community of Ciceron. Her father died when she was 12 years old. She attended Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School in Saint Lucia (2013–2015) and St. Catherine High School in Jamaica (2015–2018).[2] She then pursued a bachelor's degree in Youth & Community Studies at the University of Texas in the United States, combining academic studies and athletics.[3]

Alfred was a Central American and Caribbean U15 champion in 2015. Both that year and in 2017, she was recognised as Saint Lucia’s Junior Sportswoman of the Year.[4] As a junior athlete, she was the Commonwealth Youth Games 100 m champion in 2017, when the Games were held in Nassau, Bahamas. She also captured silver in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina behind Nigeria’s Rosemary Chukwuma.[5]

2022

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In 2022, Alfred had the all-time best NCAA performance in the 60 m at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, running a fast 7.04 s in the heats.[6] Then at the age of 21, she became one of the top 30 fastest women ever. Her run of 10.81 s (+1.7 m/s) in preliminaries of the women’s 100 m at the Big 12 Conference Championships in Lubbock, Texas on 14 May was a Saint Lucia national and championship record.[7] It also marked her as the fastest woman ever from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. At the time, only six Caribbean women had ever run faster, and in the NACAC region 17. The same month, she ran a wind-aided 10.80 s (+2.2 m/s) at the NCAA West Preliminary Round - the fastest time ever recorded under any conditions at the event. She won the 2022 NCAA Division I 100 m/m title in 11.02 s (+0.2 m/s) the day after her 21st birthday, completing an unbeaten collegiate season in that event.[8] Running for the University of Texas, she became the first track athlete from Saint Lucia to win a Division I championship, and just the second Saint Lucian overall, after high jumper Jeanelle Scheper. She next went on to win her event at the inaugural Caribbean Games in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe in a time of 11.07 seconds (−0.2 m/s).[9]

2023

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On 25 February 2023, Alfred broke for the fourth time existing collegiate record and became the first woman in NCAA to ever dip under 7 seconds over the 60 metres with a time of 6.97 s at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lubbock, TX. Her time moved her up to eighth on the world all-time list. She also achieved the second-fastest all-time collegian mark in the 200 m of 22.26 s, behind only Abby Steiner, to become the fourth-fastest woman of all time.[10] On March 11 at the NCCA Indoors in Albuquerque, New Mexico (at altitude), Alfred improved at both these events with times of 6.94 s and 22.01 s respectively to take both titles and move to second on both respective world all-time lists. With "the greatest ever one day sprint double",[11] she missed Irina Privalova's 60 m world record from 1993 by two hundredths of a second but equalled Aleia Hobbs' North American record. In the 200 m, only Merlene Ottey’s 21.87 s dating back also to 1993 had been faster.[11][12] Julien went on to compete in the women's 100m race at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial, crossing the finish line with a time of 10.89 seconds,[13] resulting in a victory over sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson.

After the end of the 2022–23 academic year, Alfred and TCU football star Max Duggan were named as Big 12 Conference Athletes of the Year.[14]

Selected for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, she qualified for the final of the 100 metres and finished in fifth place.[15] She also competed in the 200 metres at the Championships, and qualified for the finals and finished 4th.[16]

Alfred (left) at the 2024 World Indoor Championships

2024

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She won gold in the women's 60 metres at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, with a world leading time of 6.98 seconds.[17] It was Saint Lucia's first ever World Athletics Indoor Championship medal.[18]

She finished second in the 100 metres at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon in a time of 10.93 seconds.[19] Alfred ran a lifetime best and equalled the stadium record in the women's 100 metres at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica on 1 June 2024, running 10.78 seconds.[20] On 12 July 2024, she won the 100 metres in 10.85 seconds at the 2024 Herculis Diamond League event in Monaco.[21] Alfred set a new national 200m record of 21.86 seconds as she finished second behind Gabrielle Thomas at the Diamond League meeting in London on 20 July.[22]

She won gold in the women's 100 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris with a national record time of 10.72 seconds, which earned Saint Lucia its first-ever Olympic medal.[23] She also secured a silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 22.08 seconds, finishing behind Gabrielle Thomas.[24][25]

Alfred's victory in the Olympics sparked celebrations in Saint Lucia, with the government subsequently declaring 27 September 2024 as "Julien Alfred Day".[26]

Achievements

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International competitions

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Representing  Saint Lucia
Year Competition Venue Position Event Result
2016 CARIFTA Games, U18 events St. George's, Grenada 5th 100 m 11.90
5th (h3) 200 m 25.34
2017 Commonwealth Youth Games Nassau, Bahamas 1st 100 m 11.56
2018 CARIFTA Games, U20 events Nassau, Bahamas 5th 100 m 11.68
Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires, Argentina 2nd 100 m ev. 23.22
2022 Caribbean Games, U23 events Basse-Terre, France 1st 100 m 11.07
World Championships Eugene, OR, United States – (sf) 100 m DQ
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, England 2nd 100 m 11.01
– 200 m DNS
2023 Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador, El Salvador 1st 100 m 11.14
World Championships Budapest, Hungary 5th 100 m 10.93
4th 200 m 22.05
2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, Scotland 1st 60 m 6.98
Olympic Games Paris, France 1st 100 m 10.72 NR
2nd 200 m 22.08

NCAA titles

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Recognition

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  • USTFCCCA Women's Indoor National Track Athlete of the Year: 2023[27]
  • Big 12 Athlete of the Year: 2023[14]

References

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  1. ^ "ALFRED Julien". Paris 2024 Olympics. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. ^ "How Julien Alfred went from running barefoot in St. Lucia to the fastest woman in the world". 3 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Track & Field - Julien Alfred". Texas Longhorns. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Athletics Dominate Sports Awards". The Voice Newspaper. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Saint Lucia sprinter makes history with silver in women's 100m at Youth Olympics". Medium. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Julien Alfred Clocks 7.04 the Fastest 60m Time in Collegiate History at NCAA Championships". watchathletics.com. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  7. ^ "2022 Big 12 Championships Results". Big 12 Championships. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  8. ^ "Texas' Julien Alfred wins NCAA women's 100-meter title; Longhorns capture 4x100-meter relay". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  9. ^ "2022 Caribbean Games Track and Field Results". Caribbean Games. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Weekend Recap: All-Time Marks Canvas Conference Championships Weekend". USTFCCCA. 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  11. ^ a b Smythe, Steve (14 March 2023). "Stunning NCAA sprint double for Julien Alfred - overseas results round-up". AW. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  12. ^ "Alfred, Garland and Wilson threaten world records at NCAA Indoor Championships". World Athletics. 12 March 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  13. ^ Bregman, Scott (18 July 2023). "Julien Alfred bests Sha'Carri Richardson in women's 100m, Erriyon Knighton finishes second in men's 200m at Istvan Gyulai Memorial". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  14. ^ a b "TCU's Duggan, UT's Alfred Named 2022-23 Big 12 Athletes of the Year" (Press release). Big 12 Conference. 31 July 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Women's 100m Results: World Athletics Championships 2023". Watch Athletics. 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Women's 200m Results: World Athletics Championships 2023". Watch Athletics. 23 August 2023.
  17. ^ "Women's 60m Results - World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024". Watch Athletics. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  18. ^ "Alfred wins historic 60m gold for Saint Lucia". BBC Sport. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  19. ^ "2024 Prefontaine Classic: Sha'Carri Richardson Wins Big, Joe Kovacs Throws Far and Keely Hodgkinson Crushes Mary Moraa". Lets Run. 25 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  20. ^ "Alfred equals stadium record in women's 100m". Jamaica Gleaner. 1 June 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  21. ^ Poole, Harry (12 July 2024). "Pattison goes second on British 800m all-time list". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  22. ^ "GABRIELLE THOMAS COMES FROM BEHIND TO WIN WOMEN'S 200M AT 2024 LONDON DIAMOND LEAGUE". olympics.com. IOC. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  23. ^ "Alfred storms to Olympic 100m gold in Paris". BBC Sport. 3 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  24. ^ "Track and Field's Alfred wins silver in 200 meters at Paris Olympics". Texas Longhorns. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  25. ^ "Women's 200m Final - Athletics". Paris 2024 Olympics. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  26. ^ "St. Lucia's first Olympic medalist returns home to cheers and calypso". Associated Press. 24 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  27. ^ "Julien Alfred, Texas: 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Indoor Track & Field National Track Athlete of the Year". USTFCCCA. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
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