Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has dominated women’s sprinting in 2025. Now the American has put a bow on her historic year by winning her first world title and conjuring one of the most spectacular 100m performances in history.
On a balmy night in Tokyo the 24-year-old American was spectacular and smooth in taking gold in 10.61sec, a time that was not only a championship record but made her the fourth fastest woman in history: 0nly Florence Griffith‑Joyner, Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser‑Pryce have gone faster.
Given she has already lowered her personal best by 0.19sec this season after an injury-plagued 2024, who knows what else might be around the corner. “This year has been nothing short of a dream,” she said.
“I have been working so hard for this very moment to come out here. I just focused on my execution so to put together the perfect race at the right time just means so much to me.”
Asked later at her press conference whether it was possible she might one day break the world record of 10.49, Jefferson-Wooden did not entirely rule it out. “As far as world records go, Flo Jo is the greatest to do it. She has put a number out there that’s definitely worth chasing.”
Usually at world championships the 100m men’s and women’s finals have top billing on separate nights. Here they were squeezed together just seven minutes apart. It made for great drama.
But the downside was that it did not give the 68,000 spectators at the National Stadium in Tokyo time to reflect on a brilliant performance from the American.
The race looked close for about the first 30m, with the reigning Olympic champion Julien Alfred getting out fast. But Jefferson‑Wooden had also exploded from the blocks and was quickly taking control.
As Alfred faltered the 21-year-old Jamaican Tina Clayton moved up to take the silver medal in a personal best of 10.76, with Alfred having to settle for bronze in 10.84.
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden wins the women’s 100m final ahead of Tina Clayton and Julien Alfred. Photograph: David J Phillip/AP
Later Jefferson-Wooden was also asked about comments made by the Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas, criticising her and her coach, Dennis Mitchell. Three weeks ago, Thomas posted on social media saying that “doping coaches should be banned for life from coaching in the sport” – a clear reference to Mitchell, who failed a test as an athlete and also admitted to the Balco inquiry in 2008 that he had asked about performance‑enhancing drugs for an athlete, Marion Jones, he was advising.
The Harvard-educated Thomas also posted: “If you train under a coach who is known for doping … you are complicit.”
Jefferson-Wooden refused to be drawn directly on her 4x100m relay teammate’s remarks. “I respectfully don’t want to answer that question. Gabby isn’t here. She’s entitled to her opinions, but I don’t want to talk about that.
skip past newsletter promotion
The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action
Privacy Notice:Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
“I surround myself with love, with people who believe in me, who support me, who have seen me become the athlete that I am today.
“So when it comes to outside noise and social media, at the end of the day people are always going to have their opinions. They’re going to say what they want to say. But it’s up to me how I respond to that. And the best way for me to respond is to not respond at all.”
Earlier one of the biggest cheers of the night was for the 38-year-old Fraser-Pryce, who came sixth in 11.03sec in the final world championship race of a glittering career that has brought 25 world and Olympic medals. However Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, who has had a difficult season after leaving her coach in the US, was last in 11.08.
Asher-Smith said: “I’m just excited for the next phase, the next year, because when you’ve got some more stability, you can make progress.”
Earlier in the evening a men’s 10,000m that began in earnest with only two laps to go ended with the Frenchman Jimmy Gressier taking gold in 28.55.77 in a burn-up, with less than 1.5sec separating the top six.
In the women’s long jump Tara Davis-Woodhall added world gold to her Olympic title after jumping 7.13m to beat Germany’s Malaika Mihambo (6.99m) and the Colombian Natalia Linares (6.92m).
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
