Jefferson-Wooden leaves no doubt in women’s race
The 24-year-old Jefferson-Wooden turned her race into a laugher right away.
She got about a step ahead of Olympic champion Julien Alfred in the lane next to her, then kept expanding her lead and ran hard through the line when she could have coasted.
She finished in 10.61, breaking Richardson’s two-year-old world-championship mark by .04.
Her margin of .15 seconds over Clayton was a blowout — the same gap Alfred, the Olympic champion who finished third this time, beat Richardson by in Paris last year.
“This year was about accepting that I wanted to be a better athlete, and putting in the work to do so,” Jefferson-Wooden said.
Richardson, who trains alongside Jefferson-Wooden, wasn’t the same runner as last year or the year before when she won worlds.
While Jefferson-Wooden jumped and shouted into the stands before draping the American flag around her shoulders, Richardson slowly paced the inside of the track with her hands on hips.
Meanwhile, the second-place finish for Clayton put Jamaica on the podium on the night its best female sprinter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, bid adieu in the 100 with a sixth-place finish.
The “Mommy Rocket” has 16 medals at worlds with a chance for one more if she runs in next weekend’s relays.
“She’s amazing, she’s my idol and who I look up to,” Clayton said. “Competing with her was an honor.”
