Tokyo 2025: Melissa Jefferson-Wooden becomes FIRST American woman in history to sweep sprint double at the World Championships

In a league of her own, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden stormed to the 200m world title in Tokyo, becoming the first American woman in history to complete the sprint double in world championships history.

After claiming 100m gold, the 24-year-old sprint queen was a class apart from the rest of the field, winning by almost half a second, a margin only previously surpassed by Allyson Felix back in 2007.

She blazed to a massive Personal Best (PB) of 21.69s to complete the sprint double, as Great Britain's Amy Hunt stunned the defending champion Shericka Jackson to the silver medal in 22.14s, while the Jamaican sprint icon settled for bronze in 22.18s.

With Jefferson-Wooden's victory, she became the first US woman and only the fourth in history to do the sprint double at a single World Championships.

“Being the first American to win the women's 200m at a World Championships since Allyson Felix means a lot. I looked up to her so much growing up,” said Jefferson-Wooden. “It's amazing to be able to hear these statistics – they just make me feel blessed and grateful for the position I am in now.

“Starting out with the 200m this season, I knew I was fast getting out of the curve. It was just the matter of whether I was going to die at the end of the race. I was scared of that. To dominate the 200m tonight feels special. To be able to win the double is amazing. The last one to do so was Shelly-Ann – it speaks volumes," she said.

At the US trials, Jefferson-Wooden had laid down a marker in doing the sprint double and backed that up with a repeat at world level, becoming the first woman to do so in the sprint events since Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2013.

With four world titles already to her name, Jefferson-Wooden now has her goals set on breaking the 100m and 200m world records.