Miller led most of the way but tied up a little in the final straight before sprawling full-length to pip Felix in a photo finish in Rio on Tuesday. Felix finished second, followed by Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson. At the start, the race looked similar to yesterday’s semifinal – a race in which Felix pushed across the finish in front of Miller.
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The 2015 world champion at 400m, Felix is competing at the distance for the first time at the Olympics.
The Kenyan superstar, who blitzed the world record in taking gold four years ago, won going away as Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi taking silver and USA’s Clayton Murphy bronze. She came up just short of individual gold in the 200 again in Beijing, winning silver once again, but finally won the event in 2012 to assert herself as one of the best sprinters of all time.
USA teammates Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
For Felix, it wasn’t the gold she was hoping for, but it was still her seventh medal.
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Bahamian Shaunae Miller has been unbeaten in the 400m this year, and she was not about to lose when it mattered most.
