It's not golden waves'- Julien Alfred discusses her love-hate

Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred, though still reluctant about the 200m, is gradually embracing the event with guidance from her coach, Edrick Floreal, who emphasizes its value for improving 100m performance.

Reigning Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred has been very vocal about her mixed relation with the 200m and how her coach, Edrick Floreal, is looking to change her perception each season.

The Olympic 200m silver medallist explained that she started embracing the 200m more last season, when she was able to run faster times in both her indoor and outdoor races and it made her believe in her abilities as a formidable 200m runner.

However, Julien Alfred explained that she still does not fancy the distance, noting that she does not find it enjoyable till date despite having won a silver at the Olympic Games behind Gabby Thomas. She expressed a hand of gratitude to her coach for always trying to help her embrace the 200m more.

‘I don’t see why it will be beneficial’- Justin Gatlin on why Julien Alfred should drop indoor races next season

Last season, she managed to clock a personal best time in the 200m indoor race, clocking 22.01 seconds to win the final at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships. This season, she claimed the win the 200m at the Diamond League Meeting in London in a personal best time of 21.86 seconds.

“I think, in the nationals, last year…I think that’s when it really clicked for me, just in the final, just following his (coach) instructions…so I went out there, followed his instructions and I think that’s when it clicked for me,” Julien Alfred told Ato Boldon.

“Before that season, my personal best in the 200m was like 22.9 indoors. It followed outdoors when I ran a wind aided 21.7 at nationals in Texas, around there, it clocked for me that I can be good in the 200m but it’s not golden waves.”

On his part, Julien Alfred’s coach Edrick Floreal explained the importance of the 200m, revealing that it is very vital to incorporate the 200m or the 4x400m relay while running the 100m. Edrick Floreal pointed out that most athletes and coaches only focus on the speed but they should always be keen on focusing on the distance to make training efficient.

He observed that Julien Alfred prefers the 4x400m relay to the 200m but they are slowly working on changing her attitude in the 200m and so far, things are looking up.

“We just look at the 100m as a 30-60-90 workout type of thing…if he’s going to address stride length which ultimately now boils down to it, you can take a thousand strides as fast as you can. You’re not going to be efficient in the 100m, so at some point you’ll have to, you know if you think about the formula of speed, it’s distance over time, so it’s not all about time,” Edrick Floreal said.

‘One day, I’ll be like Bolt’- Muzala Samukonga on how Jamaican sprint legend motivated his athletics journey

“People get away from that and just think about how fast you are. There’s a relaxation you get from the 200m or even maybe a little bit of the 4×4…Julien would rather run the 4×4 than the 200m…she hates the 200m. I think, there is a lot of components of the 100m that people run away from because they don’t see the value of the 200m or even a 4x400m leg and allowing the athletes to execute at that maximum velocity,” he added.