Winning Olympic gold in the 100m? Insane. Winning silver in the 200m, too? Unreal. That alone should be enough to stamp your name in history, right? Well, not if you’re Julien Alfred. Nope! She took one look at her medals and might have said, Let’s make life harder. And now she’s aiming for the 400m. Hold up. The 100m and 200m?
That’s pure, unfiltered speed; blink and you’ll miss it. But the 400m? It’s not just about being fast; it’s about staying fast when your legs feel like lead, your lungs are begging for mercy, and that final stretch feels like it’s never going to end. And yet, Julien is out here, trying to pull off the impossible, stretching that speed over an extra 200m. But now? It looks like she’s had enough of this madness!
Julien Alfred just dropped a ridiculous 49.8-second split in the 4x400m relay at the Texas Relays, and yeah, it was as insane as it sounds. But before anyone could start hyping up a potential 400m career, she shut that down real quick. In an interview with Katelyn Hutchison—3x NCAA All-American, track & field analyst, and Forbes contributor—Julien didn’t just hint at her feelings; she made them crystal clear. “Well, this is my last 4 by 4.”
No more 4×4’s for JuJu
Olympic champion Julien Alfred caught up with me after splitting sub-50 in the 4×4 at Texas Relays. Watch us goof off for 3 minutes @athlos pic.twitter.com/X7zI3bKQNv
— Katelyn Hutchison (@kxnaomi) April 2, 2025
And just to drive the point home, she added, “I am done with the 400s.” No hesitation, no second thoughts, just straight-up, never again. The 4x400m might sound simple—four runners, one baton, one lap each—but in reality, it’s 1,600 meters of pure pain. Julien didn’t just run it; she crushed it. But that kind of performance doesn’t come easily.
She broke it all down afterward: “Well, the first hundred, I was trying to get out for my headshot and get out. The second hundred, I’m just trying to hold my composure and fight the wind a little. The third hundred, I’m just trying to make up the stagger in front of me, just a little bit, and close the gap. And the last hundred is just swinging and finish off.” Sounds like a solid plan—until you hit that final stretch where your legs feel like concrete and finishing the race feels like a survival mission.
But now? She’s leaving the 400m in the past and locking in on her real playground—the 100m and 200m. Up next, she’s making her outdoor individual debut this Saturday at the Miramar Invitational, where two-time 200m world champion Shericka Jackson will also be competing. And let’s not forget, just a few months ago, Julien Alfred was forced into a long-distance race, and the outcome?
Julien Alfred was thrown into the fire, but still came out on top
When Julien Alfred rolled up to the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston on February 2, everyone assumed she’d do what she always does, light up the 60m and remind the world why she’s a sprinting powerhouse. But nope. Coach Edrick Floreal had other plans. Instead of letting her stick to her bread and butter, he threw her into the 300m, a race she had never run before. A sprinter jumping into a longer race? That’s like asking a cheetah to jog instead of sprint.
But if anyone thought Alfred would struggle, they were in for a rude awakening. She didn’t just survive the 300m; she torched it, clocking 36.16 seconds, setting a new national record and posting the 15th fastest time in history. And in doing so, he beat her training partner, Dina Asher-Smith, who ran a personal best of 36.87 seconds. But while it looked effortless, it felt anything but.
“You know, he has a plan. I’m just following his plan. Even though it hurts a lot, I trust him and what he has for me,” she admitted. That race burned, but she stuck with it. And while Coach Floreal’s experiments work, even though Julien Alfred wasn’t ready for it. And now with Tokyo 2025 on the horizon, she’s done with the detours and locking in on what she does best: pure, unfiltered speed in the 100m and 200m.
No more tests, no more just try it moments—Julien Alfred is back where she belongs!
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