Julien Alfred Grabs Silver in 200m to Nab St. Lucia It's Second Ever Olympic Medal
PARIS, France – Julien Alfred’s fairytale Olympic debut continued when she produced a gutsy run to grab silver in the women’s 200 meters at the Stade de Paris on Tuesday evening.
Julien Alfred won St Lucia’s second ever Olympic medal by copping silver in the 200 metres.The 23-year-old St Lucian would have been hoping to complete the sprint double, having won the 100 metres on Saturday, but a sterling run by favourite Gabrielle Thomas from the United States saw her claim the gold medal in a time of 21.83 seconds.
Alfred, who was in fifth position coming off the turn, powered through in the last 70 metres to finish second in 22.08, with USA’s Brittany Brown’s 22.20 good enough for bronze.
It marked a historical debut for Alfred, who won her country’s first ever medals at the Olympics.
“Words can’t begin to express how happy I feel right now. I’m glad that it’s over because it was a long five days for me. I’m happy for my country and for my coach. The amount of work that he put into me and the amount of time for me to be here at this level,” Alfred, the World Indoor 60 metre champion told SportsMax in an interview after the race.
“I’m happy about it, no complaints. I’m grateful that God got me through it and that my coach got me here to come out with two medals. We have two medals, one gold, one silver, and we couldn’t ask for more.”
There was more success for the Caribbean as Jamaican Wayne Pinnock leapt 8.36 metres to also take silver in the men’s long jump.
Pinnock achieved the distance in his second attempt and actually led the competition for a brief moment before being overtaken by defending Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou, who won his second successive gold medal with a distance measured at 8.48 metres.
Wayne Pinnock of Jamaica claimed silver in the long jump at the Paris Olympics.
Italy’s teenager Mattia Furlani took the bronze with his effort of 8.34 metres.
“Honestly, I wanted to go further. It’s just the mindset, you have to stay focused. When it comes to pressure, when someone puts a big jump out there, you just have to stay focused. I was trying to push too early. I was getting too excited. But it goes like that sometimes,” Pinnock said.
“I was hurt a couple of months ago. I never lost hope. I always stayed positive. I’m not going to lie, it was a tough journey coming back. But as I said, I never lost hope, I prayed about it and I’m an Olympic silver medallist right now.”
Earlier in the evening, Grenada’s Kirani James produced a season’s best time of 43.78 on his way to winning Heat 2 of the men’s 400 metres to earn himself a place in the final.
The 31-year-old James, a former Olympic champion, was pushed to the line by Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga, who placed second in 43.81 and also advanced.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards is also through to the final after finishing second in Heat 1 in 44.33.
Jamaica’s Jevaughn Powell did not advance after he was fourth in Heat 3 in 44.91.
Rushell Clayton of Jamaica booked her spot in the women’s 400 metres hurdles finals by comfortably winning Heat 1 in 53 seconds.
She will be joined by teammate Shiann Salmon, who advanced despite finishing third in Heat 3 in 53.13 seconds.
