Julien Alfred aims to bring second Olympic medal, reaches into 200m semi-finals

Castries, Saint Lucia: The Olympic Gold medallist of Saint Lucia, Julien Alfred has stormed into the 200m semifinals following her marvellous performance. She clocked the time of 22.41sec in heat one on Sunday, raising the hopes of several citizens of Saint Lucia for another medal.

Alfred dominated heat 1 and has advanced to the women’s 200m semifinal in less than 18 hours after winning Olympic gold medal. She finished ahead of Gemina Joseph of France who completed the race in time frame of 22.72sec and Julia Henriksson of Sweden, setting new national record and clocking the time of 22.79sec.

The semifinals are scheduled to take place on Monday at 2:45 pm, and the final will be held on Tuesday at 3:40 pm. Following her qualification into the finals, she has eased her way to bring another medal for her island nation.

A day earlier, Alfred has copped the first-ever Olympic medal for Saint Lucia, with a blistering run of 10.72 seconds in the 100m final. On this accomplishment of Alfred, the entire Saint Lucia is blooming with joy and pride.

As, the Deputy Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Dr Ernest Hilaire praised Julien and extended gratitude to her as because of her the National Anthem of Saint Lucia played for the first time at the 2024 Olympic Game in Paris. The Minister continued to say that Julien’s success is an inspiration to all the Saint Lucians especially young females. He added that they are committed to supporting Julien and other young athletes across the island nation.

The Minister also added that this is a reminder that any Saint Lucian can dream big, work hard and conquer the world. “I reflected on the lyrics of our anthem which describe the identity, pride and aspirations of our people,” noted Minister Hilaire.

Moreover, this Paris Olympics 2024 has been historical for the Caribbean nations, as five athletes from small island countries have managed to win medals so far for their respective countries.

Thea LaFond of Dominica registered history with the best jump of 15.02 meters which helped her in winning the first-ever Olympic medal for the Nature Island. She was followed by Jamaican athlete, Shanieka Ricketts, jumping 14.87m who secured the second position in the final of the women’s triple jump at the 2024 Paris Olympic games.

Another medal winner is from Grenada, Lindon Victor who claimed Broze medal in the decathlon competition. With an impressive 8711 points, the athlete manages to secure third position and win medal for his country. Rajinder Campbell became another Jamaican to have won a medal for his nation in the Men’s shot put at the Paris Olympics 2024. He claimed bronze medal with the best effort of 22.15m on this second show.

The Olympic Games 2024 will run through 11th August. Therefore, all the Caribbean nations are optimistic about winning more medals.