Alfred at it again in 200m heats

Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred had a sharp turnaround, competing in the opening round of the women’s 200m less than 18 hours after securing Saint Lucia’s first-ever senior global outdoor medal in track and field. Going in Heat 1 at 4:55 am Eastern Caribbean time, the 23-year-old University of Texas graduate from Ciceron easily navigated her opening round of the 200. She pulled away from Frenchwoman Gémima Joseph to negotiate her heat in 22.41 seconds. Joseph was well down in 22.72 seconds. The wind was 1.4 metres per second. On Saturday evening Paris time, Saturday afternoon Saint Lucia time, Alfred had won the Olympic women’s 100m by the biggest margin in that event since Beijing 2008. Then, the champion was Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Saint Lucia made history on that occasion by becoming the smallest nation with two women in a final, as Levern Spencer and Jeannelle Scheper contested the women’s high jump. 16 years on, Fraser-Pryce pulled out of the semifinals in what she has said will be her final Olympics. Fellow veteran Mary-Josee Ta Lou-Smith of the Ivory Coast limped across the line in the final. On Sunday morning, there was more bad news for Jamaica. World 200m champion...