Melissa Jefferson-Wooden Discusses Possibility of Breaking Long-standing 100m and 200m World Records in Nairobi

Multiple champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has not hidden her desire to break the 100m and 200m world records that have stood for nearly 40 years and is not ruling out Kenya as the place to do it.

The reigning world 100m and 200m champion is coming off a highly-successful season and completed it by winning the double at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest this month.

On her way to winning the 200m in Budapest, Jefferson-Wooden clocked 21.47 seconds, the third fastest of all-time, putting her behind Shericka Jackson (21.41) and world record holder the late Florence Joyner, who clocked 21.34 in September 1988.

Jefferson-Wooden is also the fourth fastest woman over the 100m with her 10.61 seconds clocked in Tokyo last year, sitting behind Jamaican legends Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.60), Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.54) and Joyner, whose world record of 10.49 was set in July 1988.

“When I was in college, me and my husband always did this thing where we said crazy things like; ‘you know when you just run 10.7 or 10.6’ and we would just laugh it off,” Jefferson-Wooden said of how far she has come, during an interview on the Nightcap podcast.

“Now we have got to a point where we are saying you know if you just go out there and run 10.37 or something like that. You know, and I am like yeah, maybe I can try and do that,” she further stated, revealing her ambitions to target Joyner’s 38-year-old world record.

The 25-year-old says she has been inspired not just by the fact that people think she is capable of doing it but also watching colleagues and personal friends bring down world records that stood for long.

“Hearing all those things and knowing that it is possible,” she admitted. “Records that have been out there for years that have now fallen. I was at the meet where Masai [Russell] broke the 100m hurdle record and then Alison dos Santos broke the 400m world record in the same meet.”

“I know each of them at a personal level and to see them do that, excites me at a personal level not just for them but just to see like our sport has a lot of things that come out. Seeing all these records fall makes me feel like I hope and pray I am one of the ones to do it next,” said Jefferson-Wooden.

While it is not certain when she plans to attempt the records, it was put to her that the 2029 World Championships could be the perfect time as it will be held in Nairobi, where the high altitude favours fast times for sprinters.

“It makes me smile that some people think I can achieve it whatever the case maybe but it is also the testament of the actual hard work I am trying to show,” she responded.

Jefferson-Wooden is already planning for the 2027 campaign where she will be looking to defend her world titles while using the season to prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.