LONDON, Sporting Alert – American Allyson Felix and Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas will face-off in the women’s 400m final at the IAAF World Championships on Wednesday and it is expected to be a cracking event.
The pair will renew their rivalry over the distance today and start as the leading contenders to secure the gold medal.
Defending champion Felix leads the world list with a time of 49.65 seconds, but Olympic champion Miller-Uibo is not too far behind at 49.77.
Both sprinters qualified easily from their respective semi-final heat with Felix running 50.12 for second place and Miller-Uibo winning her semis in 50.36.
Come Wednesday night, there will be no holding back in the push for the world title.
Felix is bidding for her 10th IAAF World Championship gold medal and her fifth in open events, having also won three 200m world titles to go with her 400m crown at Beijing 2015.
Another medal for the U.S. star sprinter will see her equalling the record of 14 World Championship medals, which is shared by Usain Bolt and Merlene Ottey.
Miller-Uibo, in the meantime, will be aiming to go one place better than she did in 2015 when she was outclassed by her American rival.
Making the race for the title even more interesting is Bahrain’s youngster Salwa Eid Naser, who looked quite impressive when running personal bests in both the heat and semi-final rounds.
Naser also qualified the quickest from the last round with a national time of 50.08 and got the better of Felix in her semis.
World and Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson is another medal contender along with USA’s Phyllis Francis and Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson.
