For nearly two years, the women’s 100 meters had gone quiet. The times that once marked the upper tier of the event, anything below 10.70 seconds, had all but disappeared from competition. Since 2023, not a single athlete has pierced that threshold, leaving sprinting’s most prestigious race adrift from the historical pace that once defined it. Performances from legends like Florence Griffith-Joyner and Carmelita Jeter stood unchallenged, and the statistical ceiling felt distant. That stillness has been broken! Yes, you read that right. And it all happened at the 2025 U.S. Track and Field Championships, holding the hands of Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, a known presence in the elite sprinting field but still searching for a signature moment, delivered precisely that on the Eugene track. Running a composed and commanding race, she captured the national title in a world-leading 10.65 seconds, a personal best and the fastest time recorded by any woman since Shericka Jackson and Sha’Carri Richardson in 2023. It marked the first sub-10.70 clocking in 712 days, since the 2023 World Championships in Budapest on August 20–21. “Amazing,” Jefferson-Wooden said afterward. “I’ve been dreaming of days like this, and it’s finally starting to come true.” This win is certainly like her entry into the rarest echelon of her sport.

Her time ties her for fifth-fastest in world history, joining a list that includes Marion Jones, Shericka Jackson, and Sha’Carri Richardson. Among active athletes, only Richardson has matched the mark, and none have surpassed it since Elaine Thompson-Herah’s 10.54 in 2021. In a final that included Kayla White (10.84) and Aleia Hobbs (10.92), Jefferson-Wooden separated herself early and held the advantage unchallenged. For an event that had not seen a sub-10.70 in two years, her run offered more than a result. It restored urgency to the discipline.

The performance capped a season that has quietly but steadily positioned Jefferson-Wooden among the most consistent sprinters in the world. She swept both the 100 and 200 meters at the Grand Slam stop in Kingston, then repeated wins at the Miami and Philadelphia legs, clocking a personal-best 21.99 in the 200. Her 100-meter win at the Prefontaine Classic came against none other than Olympic champion Julien Alfred. In each case, she exhibited the form and poise of an athlete not merely in pursuit of titles, but in command of them.

Jefferson-Wooden’s resume already includes an Olympic bronze in the 100 meters and three World Championship relay golds, including the 2024 Paris Games. But this summer’s performance in Eugene felt transformative. “Right now the sky is the limit,” she said. “I just got to keep working toward bigger and better things.” On a day when she returned the women’s 100 meters to the center of the conversation, Jefferson-Wooden reminded the sport that the clock still listens, if you can run fast enough to wake it.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden silences champions…

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden lined up for the women’s 100 meters in Eugene with an unmistakable sense of purpose. Her competition was formidable: the reigning Olympic gold medallist Julien Alfred, whose 2025 campaign had drawn both expectation and scrutiny. Yet when the race began, Jefferson-Wooden’s intent was evident from the first step. She surged from the blocks cleanly and held her line with such composure that, despite a spirited push from Alfred mid-race, the outcome never seemed in doubt. Jefferson-Wooden crossed in 10.75 seconds, delivering both the fastest winning time of the day and Alfred’s first defeat of the year.

It was a performance shaped not by flair but by control. A -1.5 m/s headwind threatened to dull times across the board, but Jefferson-Wooden’s discipline allowed her to keep her form under pressure. “I’ve been saying it time and time again, I’m here to stay,” she said afterward, not in celebration but with the finality of a long-settled decision. “The goal is not just to be in these races, but to go out there and compete, execute, dominate and win.” Her winning time was just two-hundredths of a second slower than her 10.73 from Philadelphia, which remains the world lead. In both races, she established herself as the most consistent threat in a season of otherwise shifting fortunes.

Alfred finished second in 10.77, while Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith followed in 10.90. Sha’Carri Richardson, returning after injury, placed ninth in 11.19. Though her words focused on recovery, “I prayed for a healthy race, and I got a healthy race, so I accept that”, the competitive spotlight now tilts, unmistakably, toward Jefferson-Wooden. The stage in Eugene was familiar. What Jefferson-Wooden delivered there was something far less common: total authority.