Julien Alfred wins 100m in Stockholm with record-breaking time

St Lucia: Julien Alfred stole the spotlight in grand fashion on Sunday at the Stockholm Diamond League, setting a new meeting record of 10.75 seconds in the women’s 100m -- which also is the 2nd fastest time of the year thus far.

In the days following her win in Oslo by a time of 10.89, the St Lucian sprinter broke out with an even better performance in the Swedish capital. She left the world class field behind, solidifying her status as a top contender for Olympic gold in Paris.

“After Oslo, I had to have a long chat with my coach and he went through everything with me for today’s race,” reported Alfred. “He reassured me that I am in great shape because I was doubting myself. But I am happy today with how the race went. The turnaround was short but it is nothing new to me, I have done it before. I shall be heading back to Austin for training now before Pre,” the sprinter further shared.

Her training partner, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith placed second with a season record of 10.93. “I felt like I had a good start and held my form well but I prefer to win, obviously,” said Asher-Smith, who further added that she likes training with Julian as they bring out the best in each other.

Côte d’Ivoire’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith got the bronze with a time-stamp of 11.00, matching her season best.

Tournament Highlights

Jamaican Ackera Nugent placed second in the women's 100m hurdles division, while American Grace Stark and Dutch runner Nadine Visser took gold and bronze respectively. Furthermore, American athlete Kendra Harrison finished fifth in the same division. 

In the men's 400m hurdles, Rai Benjamin of the U.S. defeated current world and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm with a world best and meet record time of 46.54. In the 400m women's event, Sada Williams from Barbados set a season-best time of 50.94, finishing in seventh place. 

Femke Bol of the Netherlands dominated the women's 400m hurdles race with a record time of 52.11, followed by American Dalilah Muhammad and Panamanian Gianna Woodruff. 

Cuba's Reynier Mena won the men's 200m in a season-best time of 20.05, ahead of Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia and American Kyree King. Also, Algeria's Djamel Sedjati and American Josh Hoey were in the running for second place.