by Larry Eder
Saint Lucia gets its first World Champs medal
Julien Alfred, LCA and Ewa Swoboda, POL were the focus of this race.
Aleia Hobbs hurt herself in the semi-final, and she could not stand during the warm-up. After trying to stand up, Aleia Hobbs had to be taken off the track in a wheelchair.
Ewa Swoboda has a lighting start. How would Julien Alfred combat the Polish star’s absolute speed!
In the final, Ewa Swoboda got out fast, and Julien Alfred came out along side of her.
For ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters, forty meters, fifty meters, Alfred and Swoboda battled, with no clear leader.
It was in the final five meters that Julien Alfred, St. Lucia took the lead that would give her the gold, in a world leading equal run on 6.98m. Ewa Swoboda, POL, took the silver in 7.00, and Italy’s Zaynab Dosso, ITA, ran 7.05. In 4th was Kiwki Zoe Hobbs, first Kiwi under 11 seconds, set her second NR at 60m with a fab 7.06 AR! Mikiah Brisco, training partner of Aleia Hobbs, ran 7.08 in fifth. In Sixth was Rai Rosius, BEL, 7.14.
Julien Alfred noted to the media and her gold medal :
“I think losing last season at the world championships and coming that close to a medal in the 100m and the 200m gave me a boost. I was very hungry coming to the next season. I feel like I was disappointed last season. My coach came all the way from Austin to be with me, so I wanted to make him proud. I will keep hungry, train hard, and chase what I want. I’ll trust in my coach and myself.”
Ewa Swoboda, who took silver, was mixed about her finish, and she noted that to the media: “I know that every medal counts, but my feelings are mixed – I feel half and half – half happy and half upset. After that semifinal, I was tired and told myself: God, I wish this day would finally end. So when it comes to this, I think this result is still quite good. It would be ideal to have only two runs today. Honestly, to run three times under 7.10, you cannot get it just like that. It already hurts. The whole body hurts. Before the start, they had already been checking to see if we were OK. All is fine. If everything goes well before the summer, if I stay healthy, it may be a good summer. The silver medal, national record, that makes me feel very satisfied.”
