Despite the idea of becoming one of the few athletes to ever complete the “double” at a major international track and field meet, Shaunae Miller-Uibo over the weekend said she won’t be attempting the difficult feat at next year’s International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Championships due to a scheduling conflict.
In a recent interview, Miller-Uibo said that the women’s 200 and 400-meters (m) are scheduled to close together at next year’s event. The 200 and 400 heats are a little over one hour apart on day four for the Championships and the semis are 45 minutes apart on day five. Although the finals of the events are a day apart, she said it’s not something she’s focusing on.
“The schedule is way too tight to attempt a double, so we will be focusing solely on just one event for the World Championships next year,” she said in an interview with Star Sports.
Miller-Uibo added that she hopes the schedule could be adjusted to some degree to accommodate her if she does decide to attempt the double sometime early in the track and field season.
Similar rescheduling was done for American sprinter Michael Johnson when he went for “the double” at the 1996 Olympics.
“That would be great if they could, but there would have to be major adjustments for the schedule to accommodate 200/400 doubles as both semis, which is usually a pretty tough round, are just a few minutes apart,” she said.
