In the United States, the headline athlete of the women’s 100-meter final Saturday was Sha’Carri Richardson. The favorite to win the race was on the podium Saturday night in Paris, but settled for silver.
The winner — and the headliner in her native St. Lucia — was Julien Alfred.
Alfred, competing in her first Olympic games, ran a personal record 10.72 seconds in the Games’ premier track and field event. Richardson was the runner-up at 10.87. American Melissa Jefferson won the bronze medal in 10.92 seconds.
It was the first time two Americans had reached the podium at the event since Atlanta in 1996.
It was the first Olympic gold medal — in any event — for the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia (whose population of 179,857, per the World Bank, would not rank among the 100 most populous U.S. cities).
Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images
The celebration in the capital city of Castries was appropriately raucous:
St. Lucia made its Olympic debut in 1996. Known more for tourism and its annually precarious location in the path of summer hurricanes (most recently Hurricane Beryl), Alfred has now put St. Lucia on the map as home to the world’s fastest woman.
Alfred had beaten Richardson in the event before. Just last year, she crossed the finish line with a time of 10.89 seconds at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial; Richardson finished second.
Friday, competing in different heats in Round 1 to qualify for the 100-meter final, Richardson edged Alfred, 10.94 to 10.95. In Saturday’s semifinals — this time in the same heat — Alfred got the better of Richardson, 10.84 to 10.89.
Jamaicans Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the top finishers in Tokyo, did not compete in the event. Thompson-Herah was forced to abruptly withdraw because of an Achilles injury. Fraser-Pryce pulled out before the semifinals with what Olympic officials said was an injury, though the nature of the injury was not disclosed.
That left Alfred and Richardson as the favorites.
Julien Alfred JUST SHOCKED THE WORLD and beat Sha’Carri Richardson in the Women’s 100m Olympic Final running 10.72 🤯
She was HIGH STEPPING IN THE RAIN and all 180,854 people from Saint Lucia are storming the streets for their new Queen. pic.twitter.com/xR11AZuEPX
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) August 3, 2024
Alfred’s gold earned notice not just in her native country but around the Caribbean.
Andrew Holness, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, wrote on his Twitter/X account: “Congratulations to Julien Alfred, our St. Lucian star who attended and competed for St. Catherine High in Jamaica, on winning gold and a special big up to our sister island, St. Lucia for winning their first medal in the Olympics.”
Congratulations to Julien Alfred, our St. Lucian star who attended and competed for St. Catherine High in Jamaica, on winning gold 🥇 and a special big up to our sister island, St. Lucia 🇱🇨 for winning their first medal in the Olympics.
Well done to our 100m finalist, Tia… pic.twitter.com/2GSyTggsKV
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) August 3, 2024
After prepping in Jamaica, Alfred went on to star at the University of Texas. She was the first woman in NCAA history to break the 7-second barrier in the 60-meter sprint.