Womens 400 Meters: Dramatic Dive Gives Shaunae Miller From the Bahamas the Gold Foot Locker XC Results to win gold in a nail-biting 400-meter final Monday evening in Rio de Janeiro. She completed the single lap around the track in 49.44.
American Allyson Felix mounted a surge down the homestretch to take silver in 49.51, though she could not overtake Miller at the line. She was followed by Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, who earned bronze in 49.85.
This was 22-year-old Miller’s best performance in international competition, as well as a personal record in the event. She qualified for the 2012 games but did not finish in the opening heat.
Miller said it was the first time she’d dived at a finish line.
“I’ve never done it before. I have some cuts and bruises, a few burns. It hurts. When I was on the ground I didn't know I’d won. I still don’t know how it happened. What was in my mind was I had to get a gold medal. The next thing I was on the ground. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Felix said she too was unsure about the outcome.
“I wasn’t quite sure who’d won, you never are when it’s that close,” she said. “It is always hard after a 400 and I was physically and emotionally drained.”
Though the 200 meters is considered Felix’s specialty, the 30-year-old USATF to Elect New President Amid Budget Deficit in that event at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July. She won gold in the event in 2012 and silver in 2008. Felix surpasses Jackie Joyner-Kersee in earning the most medals (seven, including relays) of a female American track athlete.
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“I’m disappointed,” Felix said. “It’s been a tough year and I was kind of hoping it would come together. I didn't think about lunging myself. I tried to give it all I have, but I didn't have any more to give in the last 10 meters.”
Felix was joined in the finals by her two American teammates, Natasha Hastings, who finished in fourth, running 50:34, and Phyllis Francis, who finished in fifth, running 50.41. The three are favorites to win a medal in the 4x400 relay on Friday.
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s Running in the Cold in 2015.
