Jefferson-Wooden’s plan for world domination centres on ‘Melissa’

It was astatine Tokyo successful September past twelvemonth that Melissa Jefferson-Wooden went from being the huntsman to the hunted.

The 24-year-old American made past astatine the 2025 World Athletics Championships, becoming the archetypal pistillate since Jamaican large Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, successful 2013, to expanse the 100m, the 200m and the 4x100m relay. But ascending the throne arsenic the reigning sprint queen comes astatine a terms — uneasy lies the caput that wears a triple crown.

Target connected her back

Jefferson-Wooden present knows that implicit these adjacent 3 years, she has a people connected her back.

The inaugural variation of the Ultimate Championship successful Budapest this September — an lawsuit which brings unneurotic World champions, Olympic champions, Diamond League winners and the year’s champion performing athletes successful an epic clash of titans — volition beryllium the archetypal of her challenges. At the 2027 World Championships successful Beijing, she volition person to support each of her 3 crowns. And past astatine Los Angeles 2028, her sights volition beryllium acceptable connected claiming Olympic golden astatine home.

“I would honestly similar being the hunter,” Jefferson-Wooden told CNN, erstwhile asked astir becoming the pistillate to bushed astatine large competitions. “It’s going to beryllium a caller benignant of feeling being the hunted, but I deliberation I’m up for the challenge. It volition let maine to pat into different portion of my caput I’ve not been successful before. Finding ways to enactment connected apical is going to beryllium the biggest challenge, but it’s besides going to beryllium a amusive challenge. 2025 is going to beryllium hard to top. I acceptable the barroom truly high.”

ALSO READ | India tops planetary doping database for 3rd consecutive year

But Jefferson-Wooden has 2 things going for her successful her bid to physique a lawsuit for being considered among the top ever.

First, she has a proven grounds of mounting incredibly ambitious goals and past surpassing them. She has travel a agelong mode from her archetypal large last erstwhile she finished past astatine the 2022 Eugene Worlds and, with thing akin to impostor syndrome, appeared delighted conscionable to person lined up alongside immoderate of her idols successful the 100m. “That was a infinitesimal that decidedly defined me, and past my thrust ever since past has been shooting for the stars,” she said.

A bronze successful the 100m and a sprint relay golden astatine the Paris Olympics helped validate that self-belief. A habitual goal-setter, she wrote down the times she wanted to execute successful 2025: 10.68s successful the 100m and 21.9s successful the 200m. Not lone did she amended some those marks, she obliterated them. In her favourite 100m, she ran 10.66, 10.65 and, astir significantly, 10.61 astatine the Worlds, becoming the fourth-fastest pistillate successful history.

Jefferson-Wooden’s show successful the 200m was conscionable arsenic impressive, fixed it was a much caller summation to her portfolio. Indeed, her coaches needed convincing erstwhile she told them astatine the commencement of 2025 that she wanted to instrumentality the lawsuit seriously. “They looked astatine maine and it was like, ‘Wait a minute, did y’all perceive what she said?’ But I told them I wanted to beryllium a contender. I didn’t similar to truly absorption connected the other 100 metres conscionable due to the fact that it hurts, but yet I said to myself, ‘If you halt whining and complaining, you tin really beryllium truly bully astatine this’.”

And she was precise bully astatine it, moving a 21.84 earlier storming to the World rubric with a 21.68. In all, she was undefeated successful 20 of 22 races past year. So she intelligibly tin “shoot for the stars”.

Chasing Flo-Jo

The different origin successful Jefferson-Wooden’s favour, arsenic she plots satellite domination implicit the adjacent 3 years, is that astatine slightest successful 1 respect she inactive is the hunter, a presumption she relishes. Florence Griffith-Joyner’s much-questioned 10.49s from 1988 has been untouchable for decades, though Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah edged person with her 10.54s successful 2021. Jefferson-Wooden, precise overmuch connected an upward curve, thinks she is susceptible of breaking Flo-Jo’s mark.

“Crazily enough, I thought [after moving 10.61 astatine the Worlds] that I had the imaginable to tally 10.5s, which is wherefore I accidental that astir the record,” she said. “The biggest happening for maine if I privation to interruption the satellite record, it’s not going to beryllium chasing the time. It’s going to beryllium doing precise akin to what I did [in 2025], and that is conscionable focusing connected me, focusing connected my execution, listening to my coaches, and past surrounding myself with radical who are going to get maine wherever I request to be.”

A power successful Jefferson-Wooden’s attack was cardinal to her emergence past year. She focused connected competing against her best, not against others. This allowed her to “lock in” connected what brought retired her champion nether pressure, and prevented her from reasoning astir what others had that she perchance didn’t. “I consciousness similar I’ve done a precise bully occupation of being disciplined successful who I americium and who I privation to beryllium arsenic an athlete,” she said. “It’s conscionable astir keeping the main happening [as] the main thing, looking astatine the smaller parts of the contention and fine-tuning those things and critiquing those.”

ALSO READ | IOC president Coventry sets aboriginal 2026 people for caller Olympic argumentation connected sex eligibility

Jefferson-Wooden, who grew up successful Georgetown (South Carolina), which has a colonisation of little than 9,000, and attended a smaller athletics programme, has refused to fto adversity bounds her ambition. Indeed, she has utilized her circumstances arsenic fuel. World Athletics precocious added to that fuel, overlooking her for the Athlete of the Year grant contempt her sensational 2025.

“Part of maine was mad, past the different portion of maine is similar I’ve been getting overlooked successful my vocation for truthful long, present it’s conscionable similar I don’t privation to accidental that I’m utilized to it, but successful a consciousness it’s conscionable benignant of like, okay, cool, fine, whatever,” she told The Track and Field Network. “It benignant of felt similar a slap successful the face… I conjecture I’ll effort harder adjacent time.”

Fierce competition

It’s not the benignant of information she would person wanted, but fixed the fierce contention she volition beryllium up against successful the large events, it’s an borderline she tin use. Over the adjacent 3 years, culminating successful LA28, she volition beryllium challenged by 2024 Olympic champion Julien Alfred, erstwhile World champion Sha’Carri Richardson, the precise talented Clayton twins, Tia and Tina, and imaginable bolters who aren’t wide known conscionable yet but tin burst onto the scene.

Only the precise champion pistillate sprinters person won a World rubric arsenic good arsenic an Olympic gold, and Jefferson-Wooden has the accidental to bash truthful connected location soil. “I already clasp myself to a truly precocious modular and expectations, truthful the pressures of the extracurricular world, I truly don’t consciousness them,” she said. “I effort to marque definite I spell retired determination and absorption connected Melissa, absorption connected what I tin bash and tally my races to the champion of my ability. I’m excited for LA, I deliberation it’s going to beryllium 1 for the books.”