Felix decides to try tough double at track worlds
Could be first woman to win 200 and 400
5:50 p.m. CDT, July 25, 2011
Allyson Felix has accepted the challenge
She will try to become the first woman to win both the 200 and 400 meters at the World Track and Field Championships.
Felix, winner of three straight world titles in the 200, announced the decision Monday on Twitter (@allysonfelix).
"Will be very difficult, but first step to accomplishing greatness is trying,’’ she tweeted.
Felix also is likely to run the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays at the world meet next month in Daegu, South Korea.
France’s Marie Jose-Perec is the last woman to win both at a global championship, doing it at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Valerie Brisco-Hooks of the U.S. also did it at the 1984 Olympics.
The double at Daegu is complicated because the 400 meters comes first, which could sap Felix’s legs of the vitality needed for the shorter sprint.
It also would be a trial run for a double attempt at the 2012 Olympics, where the 400 again precedes the 200.
She won silver medals in the 200 at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
Interestingly, Felix is going for the double in a season when she is not dominating either event as thoroughly as she did last year, winning all four 400 races and four of five 200s outdoors.
Internationally, Felix has lost two of her last three 200s and her last 400 this season. Carmelita Jeter, who also qualified for the U.S. world team in the 200, upset Felix at that distance Friday in Monaco.
When I recently asked her coach, Bob Kersee, which is Felix’s better event, he said, “I have no idea.”
“She really loves the 200. Everything I train her for will help her 200.”
When Felix won the 400 at June’s U.S. Championships, she became the first woman to have won national titles in the 100, 200 and 400 during her career.
Should she win the 200 and 400 at worlds, the 25-year-old from Los Angeles would become one of the most promoted U.S. athletes heading into the London Games.