‘I Don’t Like Losing’ - Melissa Jefferson-Wooden Targets Quick Julien Alfred Revenge at Diamond League Final

World 100m champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has made it clear that she will be looking for revenge at the Diamond League final after losing to Julien Alfred in Zurich.

Jefferson-Wooden had to settle for second place in the Swiss capital on Thursday when Alfred avenged last Sunday’s defeat in Silesia to win the 100m race in a new personal best 10.70 seconds.

The American also clocked 10.70 seconds but was 0.005 seconds back at the line as she failed to hold onto her lead with Alfred closing in and edging it with a photo finish.

Jefferson-Wooden had not lost in nearly two years and was coming into the race on the back of a victory where she beat Alfred by clocking 10.78 in Silesia to Saint Lucian’s 10.83.

That has left her disappointed and she wants to make amends at the season finale in Brussels between September 4 and 5.

“I am always happy to see the season’s best. I do not like losing, but you know, it is the name of the game,” she said after the race. “Obviously, anytime we step to the line, it is going to be a good race. And today, it came down to the wire.”

“So, I am looking forward to seeing her [Alfred] again in two weeks. But not only her, you know, anybody going to go back in, and I want to see what I can put out there,” she added, firing a warning to Alfred and her other 100m rivals.

While she is disappointed, Alfred is looking at the glass half-full as she is delighted that she managed to clock a season’s best which gives her confidence of ending the season with a flourish.

“But we are still in a really good spot to do some really amazing things. In the end, you cannot be bad with a season’s best at all,” the 25-year-old further stated.

Alfred’s win ended Jefferson’s undefeated run that had stood since the Paris 2024 Olympics and she will be out to right those wrongs in Brussels.