The Saint Lucia Olympic Committee has announced a five-year deal with sports company Puma for them to become the country’s official apparel sponsor, including providing equipment for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

This new agreement follows the announcement by Puma that they are sponsoring St. Lucian sprinting sensation, Julien Alfred.

Alfred will head to Budapest in a few days as a true medal contender in both the 100m and 200m.

The 23-year-old has a season’s bests of 10.83 and 21.91 and is currently unbeaten in the 100m.

She has already enjoyed big meet success in 2023, winning the sprint double at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships in June.

Alfred made her professional debut on July 18 with a 10.89 effort to win at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Hungary before running 22.08 for second at the Monaco Diamond League three days later.

Brendaline Descartes is the new President of the Saint Lucia Athletics Association, following an elective congress on Saturday.

She was formerly second vice president and takes office as the second woman to be installed as president of the SLAA.

The rest of the executive is as follows: Samie D Henry (1st vice president), Andy Behl (2nd vice president), Wayne Burton (Secretary), Lisa Joseph (Assistant Secretary), Cornelius Breen (Treasurer), Makeba Alcide (Public Relations Officer), Kenvin McPhee (Floor Rep) and Laurisia Laurent (Floor Rep).

The St Lucia Athletics Association has moved to dispel the notion that they failed to supply 100m sprinter Julien Alfred with apparel for her campaign at the 2022 World Athletics Championship in Eugene, Oregon.

The 20-year-old Alfred, the 2022 NCAA 100m champion, wore a plain white singlet with a Nike logo and black tights while getting to the semi-finals on Sunday when she failed to advance to the final after being disqualified for a false start. Perhaps triggered by the disappointing end to her campaign, fans, primarily on social media, targeted the SLAA accusing it of not furnishing the athlete with the appropriate uniform for the championships.

In a statement released Monday, the association’s secretary Lisa Joseph sought to dispel any notion that that was the case, explaining that Alfred was provided with a national uniform for both the Caribbean Games and the World Championships.

“In the past few days, Julien’s accomplishments have been overshadowed by allegations that the association failed to supply her with competition apparel and that the president (Cornelius Breen) was conspicuously taciturn on the matter,” Joseph said in the statement.

“As it concerns Team St Lucia's competition uniforms, the St. Lucia Athletics Association never has and will never send any athlete to represent our beautiful island without bearing the colours of our national flag which we cherish so much.”

 According to Joseph, Alfred, whose time of 10.81, made her the fourth-fastest woman in the world this year, was provided with a competition kit from a local supplier ahead of the Caribbean Games in Guadeloupe two weeks prior to her competing in the World Championship in Eugene Oregon, which was amended to the comfort of the athlete.

 Following the Caribbean Games, another kit was procured for her, this time for the World Championship.

“When she was presented with the other kit, she intimated that she was not comfortable with it,” Joseph revealed.  “To solve this untimely situation, she was taken to a supplier where the St. Lucia Athletics Association was able to procure apparel which she said she was comfortable with.

“Moving forward, persons must not jump to hasty conclusions. Firstly, they should find out and clear the facts from the relevant governing body of the sport before posting or presenting news articles,” the SLAA secretary concluded.

The St Lucia Athletics Association has selected an 18-member squad to represent the island at the Friendship Games scheduled to get underway on Saturday, May 28, at the Stade Territorial Louis Achille, in Fort de France, Martinique.

Eleven islands are expected to participate at the Games including French Guiana, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe and Haiti as well as, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, and host country Martinique.

The Boys U20 team comprises Kadeem Larcher, Cagini Pilgrim, Noel Tribune, Sirgio Mc. Kenzie, Ken Smith and Kenrick James while Mya Hippolyte, Sandrina Popo, Kayla Charles, Joy Edward and Hadassah Papius make up the U20 Girls.

Denzel Phillip, Levern Jn. Baptiste, and Milan Mitchell comprise the U17 Boys.

Naya Jules, Paige Anderson, Sierratina Hilaire and Kirsheema Ince make up the U20 Girls.