Julien Alfred stormed to the women’s 100m title at Paris 2024 to make history as St Lucia’s first Olympic medallist.
As the rain teemed down at a raucous Stade de France, Alfred, 23, dominated the final and sealed victory by a clear margin in a national record 10.72 seconds.
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American world champion Sha’Carri Richardson took silver in 10.87, with compatriot Melissa Jefferson (10.92) third.
Great Britain’s Daryll Neita finished four-hundredths of a second off the podium in fourth, crossing the line in 10.96.
Neita produced the best finish by a British female athlete in an Olympic sprint final for 64 years but that will be of little consolation in her pursuit of a first individual global medal.
“I’m finding it hard to find words at the minute, literally speechless, so close to the medal, so close,” Neita told BBC Sport.
“I’m healthy and I have the 200m to contest. I was so close to that medal and I really want that medal but fourth in the Olympics is something to be proud of.”
Her British team-mates Dina Asher-Smith and Imani-Lara Lansiquot earlier failed to make the final, while Jamaican sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce withdrew from the competition before her semi-final.
Asher-Smith finished fifth in her semi-final in 11.10 and Lansiquot missed out after running 11.21.
“I’m just disappointed because I’m in great shape and have been in great shape all season. I fully expected to make that final, the race wasn’t even fast,” Asher-Smith told BBC Sport.
“I know I’m in a lot better shape than that. I just go on to the 200m, but again I’m fully disappointed. I should have made that.”
Neita and Asher-Smith will both now target a medal in the 200m, which starts on Sunday morning.
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St Lucia, a Caribbean island of fewer than 200,000 people, has fielded athletes at seven previous Olympic Games without winning a medal.
But Alfred has broken her nation’s duck – and takes home a stunning gold – following her heroics in a Paris downpour.
She did not look like being caught from the moment she hit the front, leaving Richardson among those in her wake as she took a commanding victory.
With her first global outdoor title secured, a jubilant Alfred continued to sprint far beyond the finish line in celebration before tearing her pinned name off her vest and showing it to the crowd.
“I’m thinking of God [and] my dad, who didn’t get to see me,” Alfred said.
“He passed away in 2013. Dad, this is for you. I miss you. I did it for him, I did it for my coach and God.”
Alfred announced herself at the start of this Olympic year by winning world indoor 60m gold – also a first by an athlete from St Lucia.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist has improved steadily during the season and set a new personal best – and national record – when she ran 10.78 at the start of June, before reducing her 200m best to 21.86 in London last month.
Based in Austin, Texas, where she trains under coach Edrick Floreal alongside Asher-Smith, Alfred reached the final in both the 100m and 200m at the 2023 World Championships – finishing fifth and fourth respectively.
She has now delivered on the world-beating promise she has displayed – and will reset for the 200m in a bid for further history, inspired by Jamaica’s sprint king Usain Bolt.
“Usain Bolt won so many medals, I went back this morning and watched his races. I’m not going to lie, it was all Usain Bolt’s races this morning,” said Alfred.
For all eight athletes on the start line of the 100m final, there appeared to be a huge opportunity.
Reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, of Jamaica, had been ruled out of defending her title because of an Achilles tendon injury, while world 200m champion Shericka Jackson chose just to focus her efforts on that event in Paris.
The shock withdrawal of two-time champion Fraser-Pryce before Saturday’s semi-finals meant no Olympic medallists from Tokyo would be present.
Richardson lined up as the world’s fastest woman this year after running 10.71 in June, but the American simply could not get close to Alfred on her Olympic debut.
Jefferson, 23, edged out GB’s Neita to claim her first individual global medal, having won successive world 4x100m relay golds.
Neita had made no secret of her determination to end her wait for an individual global medal in Paris.
Having made five global podiums as part of the British relay team, the 27-year-old has made impressive progress since reaching – but finishing last in – the Olympic 100m final in Tokyo three years ago.
She must now quickly refocus for the 200m, having finished fifth in that event at last year’s World Championships, before hoping to help GB to a third successive Olympic 4x100m podium.
“I think I put a good race together, I came fourth in the final, it’s an amazing progression – I was last in the final last time,” Neita said.
“I really, really, really wanted that medal. I need to recover because I’m in the 200m.”
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