Melissa Jefferson-Wooden achieved the seventh-fastest 100m ever recorded – 10.62 seconds with a wind assistance of -0.2 metres per second – in an exciting race against Julien Alfred at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Saturday (12).
Jefferson-Wooden, who won the medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m events at the World Championships last year, has now added the first-ever Ultimate title to her list of achievements, beating the Olympic champion Alfred and the rapidly finishing 2023 world champion Sha’Carri Richardson.
Alfred came second with a time of 10.74 and Richardson third with 10.76 when she returned to the stadium where she had won her world title three years earlier.
Jefferson-Wooden had described her “ultimate performance” as running 10.61 at the World Championships in Tokyo, and when she ran in Budapest she was a hundredth of a second short of that time, finishing fourth on the all-time world list having recorded the fastest time of the year.
Jefferson-Wooden and Alfred entered the blocks together – with Saint Lucia’s Alfred in lane five, Jefferson-Wooden in lane four, and Jamaica’s world silver medallist Tina Clayton next to her in lane three.
Clayton, having just won her first Diamond League title in Brussels, started off strongly, as did Jefferson-Wooden.
The American sprinter took the lead and so did Alfred, who was with Richardson from the USA in lane six and was just behind the leaders. She reached third place, overtaking Jamaica’s Jonielle Smith and Clayton, both of whom ran 10.94 and were separated by one thousandth of a second.
Jefferson-Wooden has by now achieved a time under 10.70 on four occasions, three of which are the five fastest performances of the year.
The semifinals earlier that evening gave an indication of what was going to happen. Both Alfred and Jefferson-Wooden recorded a time of 10.73. As she neared the far clear line, Alfred slowed down, whereas Jefferson-Wooden kept Richardson at bay, who was 0.02 seconds behind. The two were only separated by just two thousandths of a second, Alfred winning the first round by an extremely narrow margin. That’s incredible. Jefferson-Wooden said, “I crossed the line with a smile on my face because only I know all the things I have done to get to this point. When I went into the blocks today I simply told myself this is my time.”
She will be running the 200 metres on the track on Sunday. “If I could win the double it would simply be a reflection of who I truly am,” she said. “I’m willing to do things that have never been done before. I’m willing to embrace innovation and challenge myself. I’ve never been in this situation and I’ve never run four races in two days before. I see this as a tribute to the kind of achievements I’m motivated to make.”
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