The 30-year-old world record holder, greeted with acclaim by the large vociferous crowd, will also bid to defend his 200m and 4x100m relay golds for the third time later in the week.
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The 30-year-old, with four Olympic golds and two silvers, and nine world golds, three silvers and a bronze to her name, was struggling at the U.S. trials where she missed out on qualification for her signature event with a leg injury.
“I just wanted to bump up the intensity”, she said.
Felix, seeking her fifth Olympic gold, got off to a strong start and ran down Miller on the back straight but the Bahamian came back at her on the final bend and might have caught the world champion had she not eased up approaching the line. “I’ve made it from not being able to walk to being here”. It’s fairly close to what it should be. “Just the recovery is key now”.
“There’s always a lot of waiting around so once you finally get moving it feels good”. This race is completely different to the 200m. I just have to run hard and focus on doing the 400m now.
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. “I’ll do my best”.
Allyson Felix in the women’s 400m and Andre De Grasse in the men’s 100m advanced to semifinals at the 2016 Olympics held at Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil today (Aug. 13). One month after battling through an ankle injury at the US trials, Felix won her qualifying heat in the event (51.24 seconds), showing her worldwide competition the stride that has placed her among the most decorated female Olympians in the USA’s track and field history.
Jamaican Shericka Jackson was the second fastest qualifier in winning heat two in a personal best of 49.83, holding off American Natasha Hastings, who trailed in 49.90, her season’s best.
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The final will take place on Monday night at 9:45 pm – Miller running out of lane seven in between Hastings in six and Jamaican Stephanie Ann McPherson in eight.
