Alfred (left)
(SNO) — Saint Lucia has two new senior national records, both set by under-20 sprinter, Julien Alfred.
The two-time Junior Sportswoman of the Year in Saint Lucia competed for the University of Texas on Friday at the National Relay Championships on the University of Arkansas’ John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Alfred was third in the 100m, losing to teammate Kynnedy Flannel for second place by 0.01, the Saint Lucian stopping the clock with a time of 11.39, the wind gauge showing a legal, and relatively placid 0.7 metres per second.
In the 200m timed final, Alfred came through at 23.27 seconds, benefiting from a 1.3 m/s tailwind, and finishing in seventh. Fellow freshman Flannel was third in 22.79 seconds, getting a 1.4 m/s wind in her heat.
Those times bettered the national junior records both held by Alfred.
The Commonwealth Youth Games 2017 champion and Youth Olympics Games 2018 silver medallist in the 100m had run 11.49 in her pet event one week ago at the Mt. SAC Relays in Torrance, California. She ran 23.74 in the 200m in 2018 at the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Champs in Kingston, Jamaica.
More impressively, Alfred’s times erased the senior national records for her events. She is 18 years old in 2019. The 100m mark was previously 11.44 by Jineill Vité in April 2004, whilst the 200m mark was 23.33 by Nyanka Joseph in 2015.
There is, however, still ground to be made up. Alfred’s 100m was slightly more consequential, giving her 1116 IAAF ratings points. But it made her only the nintth fastest under-20 girl in the world this season, 34th fastest in the NACAC region, and 44th fastest among all women.
Her 200m time was the eighth fastest by a junior, 39th fastest in NACAC, and 48th fastest globally.
Alfred will be focusing on making it to the NCAA Championships with Texas, and perhaps representing Saint Lucia in summer at the Pan Am Junior Championships in Costa Rica.
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