Editor’s note: The Women’s 100 meters was truly exciting in 2026. The Women sprinters battle each other often, and they let their feet do the talking- well, in most cases. Stuart Weir wrote his seventh of eleven pieces from the media seats in Budapest for the Ultimate Games!
Women’s 100m
It is interesting to see the development of the women’s 100 m over the past few years. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Julien Alfred won in 10.72, ahead of Sha’Carri Richardson (10.87) and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (10.92). At the 2025 World Champs, Jefferson-Wooden ran 10.61 to beat Tina Clayton (10.76) and Alfred (10.84). In the 2026 Diamond League final, Clayton won in 10.93 from Amy Hunt (11.06) and Richardson (11.07)
When we came to the Ultimate this week, Jefferson-Wooden ran a staggering 10.62 to win over Julien Alfred (10.74) and Sha’Carri Richardson, a massive improvement from last week in Brussels (10.76).
With 10.61 and 10.62 to her name, there’s no argument that Jefferson-Wooden is the world’s fastest woman. Her comments after the race were full of emotion: “This feels amazing. I crossed the line with a smile on my face because only I know all the things I have done to get to this moment. The one thing I always want to stay true to when competing is who I am and who I want to inspire in other athletes. When I got into the blocks today, I just told myself that this is my moment. I worked so hard to be where I am today; I didn’t want the moment to be too big. I just had to focus on myself, and everything would work out well. If I could win the double, it would just add to who I actually am. I am down to do things that haven’t been done before; I am down for innovation and for challenging myself. Coming here and running four races in two days is something I’ve never done before. I feel it is just a testament to what I am inspired to do”. She added that in Budapest 2023 she was only in the relay pool.
