Africa-Press – Uganda. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden raced to a thrilling victory in the women’s 200m final, taking gold in a world lead time of 21.68 seconds, and with it the sprint double at the 2025 World Athletics Championships.
The 24-year-old capped a spectacular year with her win on Friday evening, passing the line ahead of surprise silver medallist Amy Hunt of Great Britain (22.14) and 2023 world champion, Shericka Jackson of Jamaica (22.18).
Jefferson-Wooden becomes the first woman to win both the 100m and 200m at a world championships since the great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2013. She is also only the fourth woman in history to achieve the feat.
The race began with drama, with a false start by Bahamas’ Anthonique Strachan delaying the start and drawing gasps from the crowd in the Japan National Stadium.
But as the fans in the stadium settled again in their seats, Jefferson-Wooden burst out of the blocks to start her charge for victory.
By the halfway point, the U.S. athlete had edged ahead of her Jamaican rival Jackson, who had started in the lane outside of her.
From there onwards, it was a lesson in dominance, as Jefferson-Wooden added a second gold in a matter of minutes to the tally of Team USA, following Noah Lyles’ victory over the same distance in the previous race.
Jefferson-Wooden has flipped the script on women’s sprinting over the past 12 months in ways nobody — likely not even herself — could have expected.
She has achieved what her teammate Sha’Carri Richardson has not yet been able to: the sprint double at a major international championships.
While the likes of Jamaica’s Jackson and Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred are still showing their class, this year’s sprints have felt like a changing of the guard.
Hunt’s silver was more evidence of that, as she shocked herself and more than a few breathless Brits in the crowd with her spectacular run for silver.
But if there is a revolution in these short sprint events, it is Jefferson-Wooden who is leading it. Her rise from Paris 2024 100m bronze to double world champion in the space of 13 short months has been nothing short of spectacular.
And seeing what she can do against a fit-again Richardson in years to come may well become the main storyline of the next period in track history.
Away from the athletics track, Jefferson-Wooden is an avid gamer, streaming Call of Duty: Warzone to her fans on Twitch.
While she may have sharpened her reflexes in the online world, it is in the stadiums this year that she has had her greatest wins.
She has taken aim at two sprint distances at these Worlds in Tokyo, and finished top of the leaderboard in both.
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