Eugene (United States) (AFP) – Melissa Jefferson-Wooden continued her red-hot form at the Eugene Diamond League athletics meeting, where the American ended Julien Alfred’s winning streak Saturday with another sizzling 100m win. Jefferson-Wooden handed Paris Olympics gold medallist Alfred her first defeat of 2025 with a victory in 10.75sec. That was just outside her world-leading 10.73 set at the Philadelphia Grand Slam Track meeting, but it was more than impressive in a headwind of -1.5 meters per second.
The 24-year-old American, who took 100m bronze in Paris behind Saint Lucia’s Alfred and American Sha’Carri Richardson, said it was another good stepping stone ahead of the upcoming US championships in Eugene — the selection meet for the World Championships in Tokyo September 13-21. “I’m happy to see that out here today, knowing that I’m going to come out here three weeks later and try to do the same thing and more,” she said. “I’ve been saying it time and time again, I’m here to stay. The goal is not just to be in these races, but to go out there and compete, execute, dominate and win.”
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Jefferson-Wooden was out of the blocks first and withstood a midrace challenge from Alfred, who finished second in 10.77. Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith was third in 10.90 while Richardson, the reigning 100m world champion, was ninth in 11.19 as she battles to get her season on track after an injury in February. “The only motivation that I had today was having a healthy race,” said Richardson, who made a slight improvement on the 11.47sec she ran in Tokyo in May in her only prior race this season.
“I prayed for a healthy race, and I got a healthy race, so I accept that,” said Richardson. “All I have to do is just keep pushing and focusing in our practice, so I’m super excited to just finish.” Richardson has a bye into the 100m in Tokyo as the defending world champion, but she said this week that at the US championships she will also try to punch her ticket to Tokyo in the 200m. “I will spend these next weeks just working on speed, endurance, and knowing that when I come back here to the magic stadium I’m going to be at my fullest — more confident and not executing just a healthy race but a speedy race, too,” she said. “I believe in the fact that no matter what I do, when I am 100 percent there’s nothing that can really stop me but me,” Richardson said.
© 2024 AFP
