Julien Alfred is gearing up for a thrilling indoor season, with her sights firmly set on the 60 metre world record when she opens her 2026 campaign in February. 

The Saint Lucian sprint star, will launch her season at the Millrose Games in New York City, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meet held at The Armory.

Already joint second on the all time list over 60 metres, the reigning World Indoor champion has a personal best of 6.94 seconds, just 0.02 shy of Irina Privalova’s long standing world record. That narrow gap has turned the upcoming season into one of the most anticipated of Alfred’s career.

Her absence from the 60 metres in 2025 only added to the intrigue. Alfred centred her efforts on the Tokyo World Championships and skipped the indoor dash entirely. Although an injury later forced her to withdraw from Tokyo, it came after another proud moment, a bronze medal in the 100 metres, the same event in which she captured Olympic gold in 2024.

With no major international outdoor championships scheduled for 2026, the timing feels ideal for an all out indoor push. Alfred has spoken openly about her enjoyment of the 60 metres, a race she ran often during her college days and early professional years. After experimenting indoors with longer sprints like the 300 and 400 metres, she is eager to return to the explosive dash that first showed off her raw speed.

Now back home in Saint Lucia, mixing training with downtime, Alfred has made it clear that breaking Privalova’s record, untouched for more than three decades, sits at the top of her list.

The Millrose Games will not make the task easy. Alfred is expected to face strong competition from Americans Aleia Hobbs, who also owns a 6.94 personal best, and defending champion Jacious Sears. Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, a former training partner of Alfred, will also line up.

Alfred holds the Millrose meet record at 6.99 seconds, set in 2024, and she has dipped under seven seconds five times so far in her career. Only Privalova has managed more, with 13.

Behind the scenes, Alfred and coach Edrick Floréal have been dissecting every detail of her 60 metre race, from the opening strides to the drive phase. That deep analysis has sharpened her awareness of how she moves and how each section of the race fits together.

Now in her third year as a professional after a standout collegiate career at the University of Texas, Alfred returned to structured training in early November. With preparation underway and motivation high, all eyes will be on New York to see whether sprint history is about to be rewritten.