Allyson Felix Clocks Fastest Time In 400m Semifinals

Team USA sprinter Allyson Felix won her 400m heat in 49.67 seconds and ended up with the fastest time for the semifinals. Felix is the 2015 400m world champion and is running the event for the first time at the Olympics. She has run the 4X400m the last two Olympics and has won gold with Team USA in Beijing and London.

Felix was in lane three of the third heat in the 400m semifinals on Sunday and pushed ahead with 200m left in the race. Bahamas’ Shaunae Miller was trying to use the length in her stride (she’s 6’1”) over Felix’s 5’6″ frame inside the last 100m, but it wasn’t enough and Felix cruised through the finish.

The U.S. will be taking three of the eight lanes in the 400m finals and Jamaica will take two lanes.

U.S. Sprinter Phyllis Francis won the first heat in 50.31 seconds. Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson and American Natasha Hastings both ran 49.38 and 49.90 seconds respectively taking the top two spots in the second heat.

The other three finalists are Olha Zemlyak from Ukraine, Italy’s Libania Grenot and Miller.

This is Felix’s fourth Olympics and she has medalled in every Olympics thus far. The final for the 400m is Monday night at 9:45 pm EST.

Article by Lindsey Horsting