Julien Alfred had an unimaginable 2024. Deji Ogeyingbo places the season in perspective for the tremendously gifted sprinter from Saint Lucia! Within the U.S., we now have a plethora of nice athletes, and lots of instances, we take that present without any consideration. Deji reminds us that the folks of Saint Lucia positive don’t try this with Julien Alfred, who gained Olympic medals within the 100m (gold) and 200m (silver). What a season!
How Julien Alfred turned the queen of sprinting in 2024
Initially of 2024, Julien Alfred possible had one aim in thoughts—to safe a podium end on the Paris Olympics. The 23-year-old dash sensation from St. Lucia was no stranger to expectations, however what unfolded over the course of the 12 months exceeded even her wildest desires. In a season crammed with surprises and excessive drama, Alfred emerged as arguably the primary sprinter in girls’s observe and area, notably within the 100m.
Alfred’s journey to stardom this 12 months started when she claimed the ladies’s 60m indoor title in Glasgow in March. This victory set the tone for the 12 months and gave a glimpse of what was to return. She adopted up this early triumph with a string of wins on the Diamond League circuit, constructing momentum forward of the extremely anticipated Paris Olympics. However the actual breakthrough got here when she did the unthinkable. Alfred claimed the Olympic 100m title, outpacing a area of observe’s greatest names, together with the favourite, Sha’Carri Richardson.
The Olympic closing was a defining second for Alfred, however her journey had been constructing up to now for years. The potential had all the time been there, however 2024 was the 12 months every thing clicked. All eyes had been initially on the likes of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who many thought would get her swan music on the Paris Video games. Elaine Thompson-Herah, a double Olympic gold medalist from Rio and Tokyo, was additionally within the dialog, as was Richardson, who had lengthy been tipped to interrupt America’s drought within the 100m occasion on the Olympics.
Richardson had been the discuss of the city main as much as the video games. Many believed the American was destined for gold after she stormed by means of the heats and appeared unstoppable. Nonetheless, within the semifinals, Alfred delivered the primary shock by defeating Richardson, elevating doubts about whether or not the American star may come again for a fairytale win within the closing.
Alfred’s victory within the closing wasn’t only a win for her—it was a monumental achievement for the small Caribbean island of St. Lucia, a nation with a inhabitants of beneath 200,000. At simply 23 years previous, Alfred turned the nation’s first-ever Olympic medalist, a incontrovertible fact that etched her title in historical past. Her time of 10.72s not solely secured her the gold but in addition set a brand new St. Lucian nationwide document, putting her among the many high 10 quickest girls of all time. She gained by a staggering 0.15 seconds, the biggest margin in an Olympic girls’s 100-meter closing since Fraser-Pryce’s victory in 2008 in Beijing.
For many athletes with a background within the 60m, sustaining top-end pace over the complete 100 meters may be difficult. Nonetheless, Alfred has confirmed again and again that she is just not like most sprinters. Her means to hold her pace by means of the end line has been constant all season, a testomony to her expertise and meticulous preparation. The 2024 season noticed the top of Jamaica’s dominance within the Olympic girls’s 100m, a streak that had lasted by means of the previous 4 Olympics.
Athletics isn’t a simple journey. Accidents, teaching modifications, and the pressures of competing on the highest degree can derail even essentially the most promising careers. However Alfred has weathered a few of these storms, and her rise in 2024 demonstrates her maturity and readiness for the massive stage. Alfred, although all the time a robust contender, wasn’t extensively anticipated to return out on high. However she had been quietly knocking on the door of greatness, and Paris was the right stage to announce her arrival.
Regardless of not being a whole newcomer to the worldwide observe scene—she had dominated the NCAA circuit and have become the World Indoor Champion earlier within the 12 months—Alfred’s expertise had but to completely break by means of in mainstream conversations. Successful the Olympic gold in Paris modified all of that. She adopted it up a month later to win the Diamond League title in Zurich.
As for Alfred, the importance of her victory can’t be overstated. St. Lucia had by no means seen a observe star fairly like her, and the island nation is undoubtedly basking in her success. She returned to a heroes welcome in Saint Lucia few days in the past with tens of hundreds of individuals out on the streets celebrating her achievements this season. This wasn’t her first homecoming celebration, because the Saint Lucian authorities had already honored her athletic achievements in the summertime of 2022.
Alfred herself stays humble and grounded, regardless of her meteoric rise to the highest. Reflecting on her Olympic success, she stated in a latest press convention, “It’s been good; I’ve actually been having fun with the method and simply actually taking in what occurred in Paris, however simply not getting forward of myself. I’m simply making an attempt to take it one step at a time.”
The longer term seems extremely vibrant for Alfred, however on the finish of the day, she would look again at 2024 as her watershed second.
