Alfred: I have been able to prove my Olympic glory was not by happenstance
Saint Lucia athlete wins first Diamond League title to cap a glorious year on the track
Julien Alfred raced home first in the 100m event at the Memorial van Damme, the final of the 2024 Diamond League meetings in Brussels, Belgium on Friday evening to win her first Diamond League title.
The Saint Lucia athlete ran 10.88 to win ahead of Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain who ran 10.92 for second while African record holder, Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith ran 11.05 to place third.
Alfred was thrilled to win again after losing her first post-Paris Olympics race to reigning World champion, Sha’Carri Richardson at the Weltklasse in Zurich last week.
The Olympic champion expressed her delight to reporters at the end of the race.
‘I am so happy, it feels amazing to finish my season on a good note and to take the win. I am just so proud of myself. My preparation was a bit difficult, it was really hard for me after Zurich. But I think that actually prepared me for Brussels.
‘That gave me the energy to do so good today. And I tried to relax and to enjoy the last race of my season,’ said Alfred who insisted her loss in Zurich was the motivation she needed to go again.
‘But I think losing kind of put me up again, I had to perform. I wanted to proof to myself that I deserve to be here and that I am not a one-time thing, because after Zurich, I watched the race on YouTube to analyze my race and I read some comments that said I was a one-time thing and that´s really not nice to say.
‘But I was here to proof to myself that I can win. But sometimes those comments can be very hard. And now I am going back to Saint Lucia and to Aruba! Last year I stayed in Austin but not this year,’ she said.
