Olympic 100-meter winner Julien Alfred has revealed why she lost the 200-meter championship to Gabby Thomas and how defeating Sha’Carri Richardson in the semifinals gave her more confidence heading into the women’s 100-meter final.
Julien Alfred clarified that she went into panic mode and eventually believed she wouldn’t advance to the final when she saw the semifinal lineup, which included Sha’Carri Richardson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Fraser-Pryce’s withdrawal from the race was announced in the call room, but the fact that the current world champion was still in the running added to the pressure.
The global indoor champion admitted that she was unable to alter her plan since she wanted to go all the way to the finish line, but she was greatly impressed with herself going into the final because she was able to beat Sha’Carri Richardson despite slowing down with roughly 5 meters remaining.
The American sprint queen had to accept the silver medal after the St. Lucien sprint sensation crossed the finish line first. In the close race, Melissa Jefferson finished on the podium.
“I was thinking about how I would execute, so when I saw the lineup, I thought, man, I have to run tomorrow.” Coach Flo and I concentrated on visualizing my races before to the Olympics, but mostly the Olympic final, regardless of who was present. The race arrived so quickly, and I had to mentally prepare for the semifinal, which was unbelievable.
I had to stay woke for the semifinal because I had the world champion, so I wasn’t really able to alter my strategy. I felt so much more confident after the semifinal, and even though I slowed down in the final five meters of the race, I knew I had won when I crossed the finish line. I was as at ease as I could be, and I believe the outcome of the semifinal was the best thing that could have occurred to me and gave me more self-assurance,” she continued.
Julien Alfred admitted going into the 200m that she lost because of her negative attitude. She acknowledged that it could have been expensive to go to the 200m because of the exhaustion from racing the numerous 100m rounds.
“I guess I was overthinking a lot and was exhausted.I really wanted to finish the race because it was the last one going into the final. Even after the 100m, I went to bed very late, rested for two hours, and had some coffee, which left me feeling extremely exhausted. After I did several accelerations and hardly warmed up, my coach said, “Let’s just go out there for the next round,” Alfred remarked.