By: Madi Layton
Nearing the end of her farewell tour, 400-meter American record holder Sanya Richards-Ross took to Hayward Field for one last Prefontaine Classic performance Saturday before her retirement after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. But the end result wasn’t as she had hoped.
“I felt good through about 300,” said Richards-Ross, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist. “I’d say when I came off the turn was when I thought, ‘OK, I don’t have it.’”
Richards-Ross ran 52.16 seconds for a seventh-place finish in the women’s 400 meters, three seconds slower than the Hayward record that she set in 2012.
“Of course, I really wanted to run better here,” Richards-Ross said. “I had surgery in November and have been trying to catch up.”
The surgery was Richards-Ross’ third in five years. The first of which was in September 2012, when doctors shaved down the bone of her right big toe to relieve some of the constant pain.
Richards-Ross said her toe was not a factor in the difficulty of Saturday’s race; it was finishing that gave her trouble.
“I felt the first part of my race went well,” she said. “The last part, of course, is the toughest part, and I felt like I just don’t have my kick back. I’m hoping a month will be enough time to get it.”
But even the winner of the women’s 400 wasn’t thrilled with her performance. Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas won in 50.15, though her season best is a sub-50.
“The race didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, but I still felt good running,” Miller said. “I guess me and my coaches are going back to practice to work on a few things.”
In a tight field, Miller finished just .08 ahead of American competitor Francena McCorory, who took second. The win came down to the finals step and a lean for the 22-year-old Miller.
“A good thing about me is that I love good competition,” Miller said. “When I feel someone pull up on the side of me, I always … go.”
Miller has already secured her place in the 2016 Olympics, while McCorory and Richards-Ross will be returning to Eugene for the Olympic trials in July.
“I still have a lot I need to work on,” McCorory said. “We’ve got some time before the trials, so I’ll put it together before then.”
Even with the tough day, Richards-Ross remained hopeful that she too will be able to put things together before returning to Oregon.
“I’ve been in this position before,” Richards-Ross said. “In 2014, I had a tough start to my season, then came back and ran really well at nationals. So, I’m still confident.”
