After clocking 6.99 seconds in the women’s 60 m, Julien Alfred entered the 2026 World Indoor Championships as one of the favorites for gold. She wasn’t the only one, as Zaynab Dosso bore a similar title, having clocked the same time as Alfred. But the Saint Lucian sprinter clocked in among the top five times in both her heat and the semifinals. Yet, in the end, only two hundred thousandths of a second separated her from a silver medal.

After Dosso flew away with the World Indoor gold, only 0.00002 ended up separating her and Sears from second place. The Italian clocked in at an impressive 7.00 seconds, leaving her competition in the dust after an excellent start. She kept that momentum, and while both Sears and Alfred managed to make up some ground, it wasn’t enough.

It meant that the American had to settle for a hard-fought silver medal, won in an incredibly close photo finish. She registered 7.03022, while Alfred finished 7.03025 in one of the closest World Indoor races, a heartbreaking end to her gold-medal chance. The 24-year-old put up an incredible fight in the World Indoor final for the women’s 60 m title in a pool chock-full of talent.

Race for the World Indoor Champs 60m title:

However, the results were on par with the talented women, as it’s the first time in the history of the 60-meter women’s race that seven women have improved by 7.10 seconds. That includes Brianna Lyston (7.05 SB), Jonielle Smith (7.06), Ewa Swoboda (7.07 SB), and Dina Asher-Smith (7.07).

However, given her season thus far, Dosso’s dominance is not surprising, as many expected Alfred to be at the top. The 24-year-old almost effortlessly broke the Tyson Invitational meet record twice when she clocked in at 6.99 seconds. Not only that, but she is also the joint-second-fastest woman ever in the 60 m, having registered 6.94 in March 2023.

That is only 0.02 seconds behind Irina Privalova, who holds the record for the fastest women’s 60 m time. Furthermore, Alfred won an Olympic gold in the 100m at the 2024 Paris Games, alongside a silver in the 200m, after winning gold at the last World Championships. Similar to Julien Alfred, Zaynab Dosso has been experiencing remarkable success recently.

Zaynab Dosso wins women’s 60m at World Indoor Championships

The 26-year-old produced a blistering pace from the start of the women’s 60m at the World Indoor Championships. She led the pack and never let go of her lead until the very end, despite Julien Alfred and Jacious Sears being hot on her heels. But that comes as no surprise, especially given that Dosso thrived in both round 1 and the semi-final.

The Italian clocked the fastest time (7.07) in Round 1 to finish at the top of Heat 1 before replicating that with a similar performance in the semis. There, Dosso registered the fastest time amongst all twenty-four women (7.00), topping heat 2 by 0.03 seconds over Dina Asher-Smith. She then replicated that time in the final almost effortlessly to win her first World Indoor gold.

That does add to her tally, as Dosso entered the event having not lost a final at all. In fact, she won all four finals that she participated in and made it five with her World Indoor win. She had never won a gold medal at the event before, although she did win a bronze in 2024 and a silver in 2025.

Then she lost out to Julien Alfred (2024) and Mujinga Kambundji (2025), but finally broke her duck and became the first Italian to win an indoor gold. Not only that, but she also became the first Italian to win gold in the women’s 60 m in a race that nobody is going to forget anytime soon.