Saint Lucia's Alfred Wins Women's 100m Gold At Paris Games

PARIS, Aug 4 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Saint Lucian sprinter Julien Alfred secured her country's first ever Olympic gold medal by winning the women's 100m final at the Paris Games on Saturday.

The 23-year-old crossed the finish line in 10.72 seconds, ahead of American Sha'Carri Richardson, who claimed silver in 10.87, Xinhua reported.

Melissa Jefferson, also of the United States, took bronze in 10.92.

“It sounds really good, it has a good ring to it," Alfred said when asked how it felt to be an Olympic champion.

The result continued the Caribbean region's dominance of this event, with Jamaica having won four consecutive women's 100m Olympic titles before Saturday.

Alfred revealed that she had found inspiration by watching videos of Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt on YouTube earlier in the day.

"He won so many medals. I went back this morning and watched his races," she said. "I'm not going to lie; it was all Usain Bolt's races this morning."

Silver was a bittersweet result for Richardson, who missed out on a place in the US squad for the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for a "chemical found in marijuana."

The 24-year-old was the bookmakers' favourite to win the final after storming to gold at last year's world championships with the fifth-fastest time in history.

Jamaican legend and two-time 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce missed the final after unexpectedly withdrawing from her semi-final earlier on Saturday.

A reason for Fraser-Pryce's absence was not immediately provided, but videos on social media showed her and Jamaican team officials arguing with venue staff for apparently refusing to let their vehicle enter.

Fraser-Pryce could be heard saying: "They've changed the rules. We came through this gate before but now they're saying athletes who have left can't use this gate." 

--BERNAMA-XINHUA