SHORTLY AFTER WINNING her first-round heat of the 200 at the Paris Olympics, Gabby Thomas learns that two-time reigning world champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica has scratched from the event. “I don’t know what that means for her,” a puzzled Thomas says to the camera crew following her for the second season of the docuseries Sprint. “I can’t worry about her. I have a new Caribbean girl to worry about.”
This “new Caribbean girl” — Julien Alfred of St. Lucia — may have presented a challenge to Thomas, but she ended up being a blessing to the team at Box to Box, the production company behind Sprint.
When the show’s second batch of episodes premieres on Netflix on November 13, Jackson and countrywoman Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are back after playing a central role in the first season, but both fade out of the picture with injuries when the action turns to Paris.
Instead, Alfred came roaring to the forefront, winning the 100-meter title convincingly over Sha’Carri Richardson, then taking silver behind Thomas in the 200. Similarly, the emergence of Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson — who won the Jamaican Trials dash in a sizzling 9.77 — provided producers a bonus contender on the men’s side.
“We were always tracking who was coming up. We’d known about Kishane for a while, even though he hadn’t been on the main scene, because we’d been in Jamaica for Season 1,” says co-executive producer Suemay Oram. “With Julien, the same. She’d been doing super well indoors and when we heard she was going to be in the London Diamond League we made sure we could spend time with her and interview her there.”
The first season, which premiered in July, was a hit, landing in the streaming service’s top 10 most watched shows globally as viewers geared up for the Paris Games. Fans and newcomers to the sport were drawn to the exploits of Richardson, Jackson, Noah Lyles, Marcell Jacobs and Fred Kerley, who all feature to varying degrees in Season 2, which consists of four episodes. Sprinting legends Michael Johnson, Allyson Felix and Ato Boldon all return to provide insight and analysis. Joining the action are 200 gold medalist Letsile Tebogo, Kenny Bednarek, Oblique Seville and, of course, Alfred.
Alfred features in one of the most poignant moments when Sprint cameras catch her in an emotional moment following her victory in the 100. After winning her country’s first Olympic medal in any sport, she breaks down in tears while…
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