Off the wire
• Chinese companies embrace Olympic opportunity  • World food prices fall dramatically in August, continuing 17-month trend  • Russian taxi drivers facing visa restrictions from Norway amid Syrian refugee crisis  • 1st LD Writethru: Obama orders preparations to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in next fiscal year  • UN envoy sets last deadline to reach deal for Libya's crisis  • Business society welcomes fight against informal economy in Albania  • Swedish gov't looks to boost spending on incoming refugees  • Stomach make-up determines which diets lower health risks: research  • DONG Energy to sell half stake in German offshore wind farm project  • BMW Group's sales figures in August hit new record  
You are here: 　 Home

World champion Schippers aims at sprint double in Rio

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Dafne Schippers, the newly-crowned world champion in 200 meters, confirmed here on Thursday that she is opting to compete in both the 100m and 200m races in the 2016 Olympic Games.

The bronze medalist in heptathlon at the 2013 athletics world championships had proved herself a good sprinter by winning a silver in the 100m race and a gold in the 200m event in Beijing.

"In Rio I will definitely opt for the double," the Dutch athlete told reporters at a news conference before the season finale of the IAAF Diamond League kicks off on Friday, adding that she would also compete in the long jump from time to time.

"I won't compete in the heptathlon anymore, even when I like it during the winter to train for different events and I will continue to do so. But I do have the idea of competing in the long jump next year every now and then. I'm hoping to jump over 7.00m."

The 23-year-old amazed the world by clocking 21.63 seconds in the Bird's Nest to become the third fastest woman in 200m in history only behind American sprinters Florence Griffith-Joyner and Marion Jones.

"I was expecting to run below 22 seconds in Beijing, but 21.63 is a lot faster than what I was hoping for," said Schippers. "All world records will be broken one day. I must admit that I am thinking more about the world record now than I did before the world championships."

"Analysing my races in Beijing, I think that there is still some work to do on my start and on the first part of my race. I'm still only 23 and I hope that I can make more progress in the next years." She added.

The women's 200m race was expected to be one of the highlights in the Brussels meeting on Friday night as it would see both Schippers and Allyson Felix run. The 29-year-old Olympic champion skipped the 200m where she had won three times in the worlds and claimed the title in the 400m race in Beijing.

"It is exciting to see new talents coming up in the event and I love new challenges," said the American athlete, adding that she was probably not as sharp now as she would like to in terms of speed. Endit