That loss ended Felix’s hopes of becoming only the third woman in history to win both the 400m and 200m at the same Olympics after Valerie Brisco-Hooks of the USA in 1984 and Marie-Jose Perec of France in 1996. “I wanted to bump up the intensity tonight”, the 30-year-old Felix told reporters.
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Felix added: “I was just focusing on the first half and getting through”.
She also earned gold medals in the 4x100m and 4x400m in London to become the first female USA track athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympics since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. It’s fairly close to what it should be.
She’s off to a good start. Recovery is the key now. I just have to run hard and focus on doing the 400m now.
The 30-year-old American runner clocked in at an incredible 49.67 seconds for first place.
The London 400 meters champion Sanya Richards-Ross was also unable to defend the Olympic crown after suffering a career-ending injury at the same meet.
Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, who had the world-leading time this year, copped the gold medal with a lunge at the line and a personal best of 49.44s.
“Up so many stairs and then down so many”.
De Grasse (USC 2016) cruised to victory in the fourth of eight heats of the men’s 100m dash with a time of 10.04 (-0.5) to automatically advance to tomorrow’s semifinals.
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All three Americans won their heats, Natasha Hastings came home in 51.31 to win the fifth race, as did Jamaicans Stephenie Ann McPherson (51.36), Christine Day (51.54) and Shericka Jackson (51.73).
