US sprinter Allyson Felix’s training is all geared toward the finish line in the 200m and 400m events at the Rio Olympics in August next year. Schedule allowing, she hopes to be in the starting blocks for both races.
Problem is, those events are scheduled to happen 1 hour, 15 minutes apart.
To facilitate Felix’s pursuit, USA Track and Field (USATF) recently petitioned the governing body of the sport to amend the Olympic track program, which currently has the 200m preliminaries taking place shortly before the 400m final in Rio on Aug. 15.
Photo: AP
That would leave little opportunity for the six-time Olympic medalist to recover.
She said she would not be deterred, though, should the rescheduling not happen. She still plans on attempting to make the US squad in both events at the Olympic Trials in June next year and go from there.
“I think she can make the team in both. I think she is capable of medaling in both. I think she has a great opportunity to win gold medals in both,” Felix’s longtime coach, Bobby Kersee, said in a phone interview. “She is very dedicated to it. She is committed to the challenge.”
A change to the schedule is not without precedent, even at this late date. Michael Johnson campaigned for a rearrangement of the 200m and 400m events leading up to the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia. The program was altered, and he became the first male to win both at the Olympics.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach four months ago said that the Olympic track program remains flexible.
USATF chief executive officer Max Siegel went to bat for the 30-year-old Felix by contacting the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to set the wheels in motion for a switch.
“Such an achievement would elevate the sport at the Games, and as a federation we owe it to her and to the sport as a whole to make the request,” Siegel said in a statement.
They are currently in a holding pattern. An e-mail was sent to the IAAF to determine the next step.
IAAF president Sebastian Coe earlier this year said that the organization would be willing investigate such a schedule change.
Kersee has Felix working as though this kind of double could take place. They started training in October, and Felix is to run a limited indoor schedule this winter to stay race sharp. She might also compete at the world indoor championships in Portland, Oregon, in March.
“I do not want her to sit around,” Kersee said. “So we are treating indoors more like spring training. We are going to perform a couple of times and shut it down and get ready for outdoor.”
Asked what his ideal timetable would be for her to reasonably compete in Rio, Kersee did not commit.
“I am just going through our major channels — asking the powers that be to talk to the other powers that be,” he said. “I am a better track coach than politician.”
“It has been done before. It is nothing new. If you look at the history and look at the schedule, you know what is fair and you go from there,” he added.
This 200m-400m undertaking by Felix has been in the works for the past five years. Felix tackled the sprint-distance double at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in South Korea, winning silver in the 400m. A few days later, she lacked her customary kick and was clearly exhausted in the 200m, her signature event. She wound up with bronze.
Felix did not attempt that endeavor at the 2012 London Games. Instead, she ran the 100m and the 200m, winning gold in the latter. She also won gold in both relays.
She is much stronger now, Kersee said, citing her performance at this year’s World Championships in Beijing. Focusing on the 400m, Felix won the event and then helped the relay teams to silver medals. Her leg of the 4x400m relay was particularly strong.
“Last season, she was [in her best shape ever],” Kersee said. “Barring injury, we can build off of that. We know we have a task ahead of us. We are committed to it.”
“If we have an athlete that is capable of maybe wanting to try that, why not give them the opportunity? That is my Perry Mason argument,” he added.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite