Zaynab Dosso entered the World Indoor Championship chasing her first gold, but the field looked stacked with talent, including Dina Asher-Smith, Patrizia van der Weken, and Jacious Sears. Despite the stiff competition, Dosso surged to victory, claiming her first title, while Sears took silver. The biggest surprise came when favourite and reigning 100m Olympic champion Julien Alfred finished third, leaving her visibly stunned.

To be fair, Dosso was unstoppable, and neither Sears nor Alfred could keep up, clocking in 0.03 seconds behind the Italian. However, it was a photo finish between the American and the St Lucian, with Alfred only three-hundredths of a second behind.

“It hurts me to say this, but my biggest lesson now is learning how to lose, and how I bounce back from that is the most important thing,” Alfred said in an interview.

“I’m working with a mentor coach now who’s really teaching me, like, if it doesn’t go your way, then, oh well, the world doesn’t end.

“And I’m really… It’s been, it’s been really hard, especially from practice, where I was literally getting my butt kicked every single day in practice [laughs] in the long workouts, in blocks, and I think I really had to learn the hard way to come out here and really just be Julian. “

It marked an impressive comeback from the Italian, who had to settle for a bronze medal at the 2024 World Indoor, while Julien Alfred won the gold. Dosso then came closer in 2025, winning silver, but this time was pipped to the gold by Mujinga Kambundji. Things had changed now as she won her fifth final in a row, while Alfred was the one settling for bronze.

That wasn’t the case at the end of Round 1, as the 24-year-old topped Heat 4 and had the second-best time of the round, behind only Brianna Lyston. She clocked in at 7.06 while Alfred was only a few hundredths of a second behind again. The semi-final was where Dosso heated up as she clocked in with the best time of the round (7.00) and topped her Heat 2.

Julien Alfred, on the other hand, registered 7.04 to top Heat 1 ahead of Jacious Sears and had the fourth-best overall time for the round. Yet that comes despite the Olympic champion’s slow start to the season, as she had been recovering from injury.

Julien Alfred on her slow start to the season

The two-time Olympic medalist withdrew from the 200m race at the World Athletics Championship after suffering an unknown injury. Her agent, Henry Rolle, later revealed that Julien Alfred had suffered a grade 1 hamstring tear, which forced her to withdraw from the heats in September. She ranked among the favourites to medal at the tournament after she recently clocked the fastest 200m of the year in July.

But following the injury, Alfred took time to rehab and recover, which led her to start the indoor season very late, as she attested.

“You know, just to come out here and see what I’ve been working on,” Alfred added. “I mean, obviously, I started this, the indoor season very late, um, like the first week in February. But just to come out here and see what I can do, leave with hardware.

“I mean, the goal was to leave with a gold medal, obviously, but I’m leaving with bronze. I’m healthy, which is most important, and on to outdoors from here.”

Now that her biggest indoor competition is over, Alfred’s focus will be on the outdoor season, and she’ll be hoping to improve upon her bronze medal finish. The 24-year-old will compete in multiple tournaments, including the Silesia Diamond League, the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, and more.