Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred opened her outdoor campaign by beating Jamaican sprinting star Shericka Jackson in the rarely run 300m at the 2025 Miramar Invitational in the United States on Saturday (5 April).
The race pitted double 200m world champion Jackson against the latest sprinting export from the Caribbean in a mouth-watering duel.
Jackson started with a bang leading the field in and out of the bend before Alfred finished with a flourish in a national record of 36.05 seconds. The Jamaican finished 0.08s behind her with Ivory Coast’s Jessika Gbai taking third in 36.24s.
Jackson, who missed the Paris 2024 Olympics due to an injury sustained on the eve of the global showpiece, made her comeback to the track at the start of the 2025 season.
Alfred, the rising star from Saint Lucia, would take some confidence from the race as she is showing some good speed endurance this early in the season. The short-sprint specialist will fancy her chances of taking reigning world champion Jackson over the half-lap sprint later in the season.
“Going forward, I am just going to keep on working hard and trust myself,” Alfred said after the race.
In the men’s 100m, Jamaica’s Rohan Watson beat compatriot and former world champion Yohan Blake to the line.
Watson clocked a wind-aided 9.99 seconds for the victory with Blake following behind him in a time of 10.06s. Alex Ogando of the Dominican Republic rounded out the podium with 10.14s.
