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≡ THE WOMEN’S 100 m ≡
The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic organizers unveiled the detailed event schedule last week, with the women’s 100 m – preliminary round, first round, semifinals and final – all slated to be contested on Saturday, 15 July 2028.
The preliminary round and first round are scheduled for the morning session and the semis and final for the afternoon session. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe explained that the schedule was presented to the women’s star sprinters and was accepted, with its statement including supporting messages from 2023 World women’s 100 m champ Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. and 2019 Worlds 200 m winner Dina Asher-Smith (GBR).
Objecting, however, was St. Lucia’s Julian Alfred, the Paris 2024 Olympic 100 m champion and silver medalist in the 2025 World Athletics Championships 100 m. Her agent, former Bahamian sprinter and long-time coach Henry Rolle, explained in a 13 November letter provided to TSX correspondent Karen Rosen and reprinted here in full for the record:
“I am writing to publicly clarify why Julien Alfred will not be offering a favorable comment regarding the recently announced LA28 track and field schedule, particularly the placement of the women’s 100 m on day one. While early visibility may be presented as a benefit, visibility without fairness does not constitute progress.
● “Persistent Scheduling Inequities Affecting Women Sprinters
“Across multiple Olympic cycles, the scheduling of women’s short sprint events has repeatedly placed female athletes at a competitive and physiological disadvantage. The most recent Summer Olympics made this unmistakably clear: the women’s 200 m first round occurred less than 12 hours after the women’s 100 m final. For Julien and others, mandatory post-final procedures such as anti-doping control, mixed zone obligations, and media requirements which resulted in returning well after 3:00 a.m. and rising only hours later to prepare for the next event.
“No comparable demands were placed on the men. As the esteemed coach Stephen Francis [JAM] has openly stated, he would have no objection to such scheduling if the men were subjected to the same constraints. They are not. This discrepancy reflects a structural inequity that must be addressed, not justified.
● “A Broader Pattern of Unfairness in Women’s Sport
“These issues extend beyond the track. We have also witnessed deeply concerning inequities in women’s boxing, where female athletes have been placed at clear disadvantages – raising serious questions about governance, safety, and competitive legitimacy. Women athletes should not have to navigate systems that treat them as secondary considerations.
● “Experience and Context
“My perspective is grounded in two decades of coaching at the highest collegiate level. I spent 20 years coaching at Auburn University, primarily coaching women, and won an NCAA championship in Athletics during the same era that the newly elected IOC President, Christy [sic: Kirsty] Coventry, competed [at Auburn] as a collegiate swimmer. Her athletic career was shaped by the Title IX framework, which demanded fairness, equity, and a duty of care for women in sport.
“It is my hope that President Coventry will bring these same principles, principles that supported her own success to the International Olympic Committee and its decision-making processes.
● “Why We Cannot Participate in This Narrative
“Given the continued pattern of inadequate recovery windows, secondary consideration of women’s event structure, and unequal conditions compared to male athletes, we cannot in good conscience contribute to a media narrative praising the current schedule. To do so would misrepresent the lived reality of the athletes and endorse inequity under the guise of promotion.
● “A Commitment to Speaking Openly
“For these reasons, Julien will not be providing a favorable comment for the LA28 announcement. We are, however, engaging with media outlets in France and the United Kingdom to address these concerns more widely and advocate for meaningful systemic change.
“Women athletes deserve equal conditions, equal protection, and equal respect. Anything less is unacceptable.
“Thanks.”
Henry Rolle
Agent for Julien Alfred
¶
Rolle is not alone in his concerns over the schedule. Ron Brumel, a track & field coach in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 31 years, commented to TSX concerning the women’s 400 m and 400 m hurdles schedule:
“Having read that ‘months of planning’ went into the creation of the 2028 Olympics track & field schedule, I found it somewhat hilarious that they came up with overlapping 400/400 hurdles schedules for women.
“Given that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is probably the number-one draw in the sport, setting world, or American records with each pressure-packed World or Olympic final, that after ‘months’ of planning, they couldn’t figure out a way to enable the possibility of two world records in a single Games, on her home turf, a possibility?
“Hilarious! And [LA28 Chief Athlete Officer] Janet Evans should know better, even if it is possible for swimmers to amass numerous medals and records at any given Games, due to the (much) shorter recovery times for swimmers vs. athletics in maximum-effort events.
“To run multiple 400s/400 hurdles plus 4×400 relays (mixed and not) would place enormous strain on the phenomenal Ms. McLaughlin-Levrone, with perhaps [Cuban] Alberto Juantorena‘s handling of a 400/800 double [in 1976] as daunting a challenge. This is not to minimize the historic Jesse Owens/Carl Lewis four golds, in events decided by hundredths of seconds, or fractions of a millimeter. All are awesome, and all achieved by men.
“Syd would be the first female to do so, and in what are considered to be track’s most lactate-elevating events, repeatedly. Here’s looking at you kid. We’ll always have Paris. But L.A. would be even better.”
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