Allyson Felix will run the 400-meter dash at World Championship
200-meter Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix will run the 400-meter dash at next month's IAAF World Championships in Beijing. The sprinter shared an Instagram post on Wednesday afternoon detailing her preparation for the rounds of a global championship.
“Getting some 400 work in to get ready for worlds - excited to step it up and challenge myself next month,” Felix wrote.
Felix won the women's 400-meter dash at the U.S.A. Outdoor Track and Field Championship and also earned a bye to world championships after winning the 2014 Diamond League title.
She has weighed her options with coach Bobby Kersee for several weeks after the championships in Eugene, Ore. before opting to scratch in the 200-meter dash. Felix could also run in the women's 4x400-meter relay team.
Doubling in both distances was not possible in Beijing as the 200-meter semifinal and 400-meter final are separated by an hour. The current schedule for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro also does not allow for a double as the 400-meter final takes place just 75 minutes after the first round of the 200.
Earlier this month, Felix told reporters that she would love to run the double next year, but that the schedule does not accommodate it.
”I would love to run the double,” Felix said in a press conference in Lausanne. “It’s something that I did before, and I would love to do it again. In my opinion, the schedule just doesn’t allow for it (in Beijing). To me, it’s really disappointing because there are so many people who can do a 200m-400m double, and I think that we should be allowed to attempt it. So I would hope that, moving forward, that the Olympic schedule would reflect that. But at this World Championships, in my opinion, I don’t see it as being ideal to be able to run optimal in both the 400m and the 200m.”
Felix doubled at the 2012 Olympics with the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. She took gold in the 200 and finished fifth in the 100. She ran the 200-400 double at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, where she took silver in the 400 and bronze in the 200.
Felix has the fourth fastest time in the world for 2015, but the faster American contingent of Francena McCorory and Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross failed to make the U.S. national team. Felix holds the fastest 200-meter time on the year with her 21.98 on May 18 at the Doha Diamond League meet.
USATF will announce their official team for the world championships on Aug. 10.
- Christopher Chavez
