Miller-Uibo has run her last 400
Bahamian star turns full-time attention to half-lap event
Published:Sunday | July 24, 2022 | 12:10 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
EUGENE, Oregon:
SHAUNAE MILLER-Uibo’s 400m résumé is now complete after capturing the title at the World Athletics Championships on Friday, adding to her two Olympic titles.
Now she turns her attention to the half-lap discipline with excitement and hunger, fuelled by the performance of World Champion Shericka Jackson, who has set the bar for the event.
WORLD TITLE
Miller-Uibo, at the third time of asking, finally earned a world title, winning the 400m in a world-leading 49.11 seconds to form the pinnacle of a Caribbean sweep, with Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic finishing second in 49.60 and Sada Williams of Barbados finishing third in a national record, 49.75.
While Miller-Uibo said she wouldn’t describe the quest to end the World Championship drought as an obsession, she did say she was intent on completing her mission in the event. Miller-Uibo is the only 400-metre woman to ever win every major title on offer. She was a World Youth, World Junior, and two-time Olympic champion before claiming the World title on Friday.
“I think that was the main thing. You have trained hard for this season. I had a lot of ups and downs with injuries but this was the goal and it was just to make sure that we grabbed it,” Miller-Uibo said after the final.
With that mission complete, Miller-Uibo suggests she will now walk away from the 400s and concentrate entirely on the half-lap event.
“I’m excited now. I love it when the competition is stiff and being able to train for that for the upcoming seasons, I am looking forward to it. They have certainly set the stage pretty high. I’m so proud of the girls and I think we are really showing out right now and showing the world what we can do. So I can’t wait to dabble into the 200m with them,” Miller-Uibo said of taking on the might of the Jamaicans in the 200s.
Miller-Uibo did not describe the end of her 400m career as a departure but as “putting it to rest” knowing that she has accomplished everything she had set out to do.
“I have accomplished it all in the event. I don’t think that I have anything else to prove to myself or to anyone else. So I’m pretty happy and I am pretty proud with myself that I have gotten all the titles,” Miller-Uibo said.