Alfred expects to go faster in 2027

Julien Alfred has just finished her best season so far, but she’s still aiming higher. She set personal records in the 100m and 200m, won a Diamond League title, earned a World Indoor silver and took second at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. Now, the 25-year-old Saint Lucian says she’s ready for a break.

“I want to enjoy the offseason,” Alfred said after finishing second in the Ultimate Championship 100m in Budapest. “I just want to go back home to Saint Lucia, on the beach, party, enjoy my island, nothing about track and field whatsoever, and think about next year when the next season starts.”

Even so, the Paris 2024 Olympic 100m champion is already looking ahead to 2027, when the World Championships will take place in Beijing. She plans to train again with coach Edrick Floréal at the University of Texas, alongside fellow Saint Lucians Naomi London and Jady Emmanuel, as well as World Under-20 double champion Mia Maxwell and her twin, Mariah.

“I have a lot to work on, especially the start,” Alfred said. “It’s been really inconsistent this season, so now I know what I have to work on. Now I have a lot more training partners to line up with in practice so I can get the repetition and get it under my belt, which I think I was lacking all season.”

In a genuine off year, Alfred raced the 100m just seven times, one less than in 2025, when she was heavily focused on speed endurance. In 2022 and 2023, her last years in college, she raced 30 times combined.

She ran 21.51 seconds for the 200m at the Monaco Diamond League in July, now the fourth-fastest ever over that distance. She considered that the highlight of her season, but pointed out how much her mindset has grown.

“I’ve been learning how to lose and how to bounce back from that, so I’m not the type anymore to beat myself up after a race. Now I’ve become a lot more lenient on myself and give myself a lot more grace,” she said.

“As you’ve seen, every year I’ve progressed. I’ve got better every single time I line up, and that’s because my mental game has gotten a lot better. Now I am a lot more grateful for where I’m at, knowing I get a chance to represent an island, a tiny island of 238 square miles, and it’s always a proud moment for me. I just look at the positive things in life.”

Alfred told reporters how much it means to her that young people in Saint Lucia can see their flag on the world stage. Some of her family watched her compete in person for the first time in Budapest, and now that her 2026 season is over, she’s looking forward to spending more time with them.

“There’s so much more to be grateful for,” she said.

The article Alfred expects to go faster in 2027 is from St. Lucia Times.