Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is already eyeing a podium placement at the World Championships in Tokyo, after exceptional national title win at the USA Track and Field Championships.
Having dominantly conquered the women’s 100m final at the USA Track and Field Championships, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden already has her eyes set on a podium finish at the World Championships in Tokyo.
In the absence of defending champion Sha’Carri Richardson, Jefferson-Wooden rose to the pre-race hype as the favourite to win, blazing to a blistering new Personal Best (PB) of 10.65s to secure her second career national title.
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
She inspired her training partner Kayla White to a new PB of 10.82s for a second-place finish, ahead of Aleia Hobbs, who bounced back to recognition after an injury-plagued past three years to finish third in a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.92s, as the trio booked their spots on the US team to the World Championships.
Watch Melissa Jefferson-Wooden 🇺🇸 run 10.65s (0.4) to win the women’s 100m title at the US Championships!!🥇
2. Kayla White 10.84
3. Aleia Hobbs 10.92
4. TeeTee Terry 10.94
5. Tanari Davis 10.97
6. Jacious Sears 11.00pic.twitter.com/LyEEoqTniS
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) August 2, 2025
With her exceptional victory, Jefferson-Wooden extended her unbeaten run in the 100m this season, and her time is now joint third-fastest with Richardson on the American all-time list and joint-fifth in world history.
Reacting to her performance with a tweet on her X page, the Paris Olympics 100m bronze medallist wrote:
2xNational 100m Champ 🤭
10.65 PB & WL 😤
See yall good folks in Tokyo on that podium 🫡‼️
— Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, OLY. (@Melissajanae21) August 2, 2025
Jefferson-Wooden has unarguably been the best female sprinter in the world this year, from dominating the Grand Slam Track league to beating Olympic champions Julien Alfred and Gabby Thomas; she’s currently on the trajectory of one of the greatest seasons by a runner in history.
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s incredible undefeated season continues with a national title and one of the fastest 100m times in world history! 👑 pic.twitter.com/Ryn4PLRrWL
— Travis Miller (@travismillerx13) August 2, 2025
She’s scheduled to compete in the 200m semifinals against Thomas at the US Championships as they’ve been placed in the same heat.
With both standing as favourites to qualify for the final from the race, Jefferson-Wooden will gun to cause a major upset by defeating Thomas for the title. If successful, she will become
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Gabby Thomas before their 200m race at Grand Slam Track in Philadelphia
Jefferson-Wooden has a great chance of achieving this feat based on her exceptional consistency and performances this season. Ambitiously, she will aim for the ultimate goal of repeating the double feat at the World Championships in Tokyo this September.
AloJapan.com