Tori Bowie sets Prefontaine Classic record in 200 meters

By Shawn Medow

The Prefontaine Classic has a new women’s 200-meter record, and it’s owned by American sprinter Tori Bowie.

“My coach said I was capable of running 21.7 today,” Bowie said. “The major goal for today was coming out here and getting prepared for the national championships.”

Bowie didn’t get under a 21.7, but she got off to a quick start, and her pace only seemed to increase as she went past the Bowerman curve. She zipped across the finish line in 21.77 seconds, beating training partner Shaunae Miller-Uibo by 0.14 as both runners set personal bests.

“I knew I was capable of doing it,” Bowie said. “We had this thing in our training camp where we can’t get overly excited and we can’t get too down.”

The field consisted of multiple Olympians: fellow Americans Allyson Felix and Jenna Prandini, Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers, and Rio 100 and 200 gold medalist Elaine Thompson. But the composition of the field didn’t matter to Bowie.

“It’s no different,” Bowie said. “There’s no difference in the competition whether it’s the Diamond League or world championships. The difference is the season and trying to maintain it until the world championships, and I think that’s what makes the difference between now and later.”

With the Pre Classic early in the season, Bowie has some worries about keeping herself fast. She set her past personal best at the 2016 Prefontaine Classic and was able to stay fast enough to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games. But now she said she has to be smart in her planning for the rest of the year.

“You have to have a strategy,” Bowie said. “How much you want to hit the road and travel and compete and the plan this year was to try to compete as less as possible and keep on training, keep my strength up.”

Although her dominance comes in the 200, Bowie says the distance of the race is not ideal, preferring the 100 while still acknowledging that she is better in the 200.

“The 100 is so much more technical,” Bowie said. “The 100 is all about having speed and then mixing endurance.”

Bowie believes she can go faster than her race on Saturday, but she is trying not to get too ahead of herself.

“It’s no limits— I haven’t even thought about it,” Bowie said. “I said if I come out here and get a personal best I’d be extremely excited, and I come out here and it was my personal best. So there’s no limits for the rest of the season.”

Shawn Medow

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