Best Season Outing Sees Julien Alfred Setting Sights on Beijing 2027
CASTRIES, St. Lucia — Julien Alfred has just wrapped the best season of her career. She already has a plan for the next one.
Julien AlfredThe St. Lucian ended her 2026 campaign with second place in the 100m at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, adding to a season that included personal records in the 100m and 200m, a Diamond League title and World Indoor silver.
But after the race, the Paris 2024 Olympic 100m champion was thinking less about medals and more about home.
“I want to enjoy the offseason,” Alfred said. “I just want to go back home to Saint Lucia, on the beach, party, enjoy my island, nothing about track and field whatsoever, and think about next year when the next season starts.”
That break will not last forever. Alfred is already eyeing 2027, when the World Championships will take place in Beijing.
She plans to train again with coach Edrick Floréal at the University of Texas, alongside fellow Saint Lucians Naomi London and Jady Emmanuel, as well as World Under-20 double champion Mia Maxwell and her twin, Mariah.
Alfred said the extra training partners should help address the biggest issue of her season: her start.
“I have a lot to work on, especially the start,” she said. “It’s been really inconsistent this season, so now I know what I have to work on. Now I have a lot more training partners to line up with in practice so I can get the repetition and get it under my belt, which I think I was lacking all season.”
In a genuine off year, Alfred raced the 100m just seven times, one fewer than in 2025, when she was heavily focused on speed endurance. In 2022 and 2023, her final years in college, she raced 30 times combined.
Her standout performance came in July at the Monaco Diamond League, where she ran 21.51 seconds in the 200m, now the fourth-fastest time ever over that distance.
She considered it the highlight of her season, but pointed to how much her mindset has grown.
“I’ve been learning how to lose and how to bounce back from that, so I’m not the type anymore to beat myself up after a race. Now I’ve become a lot more lenient on myself and give myself a lot more grace,” she said.
“As you’ve seen, every year I’ve progressed. I’ve got better every single time I line up, and that’s because my mental game has gotten a lot better. Now I am a lot more grateful for where I’m at, knowing I get a chance to represent an island, a tiny island of 238 square miles, and it’s always a proud moment for me. I look at the positive things in life.”
Alfred also told reporters how much it means to her that young people in Saint Lucia can see their flag on the world stage.
Some of her family watched her compete in person for the first time in Budapest, and now that her season is over, she is looking forward to spending more time with them.
