By Melissa Ingabire
The Prefontaine Classic’s highly anticipated women’s 400 meters has one of the meet’s most competitive field, even without Olympian Allyson Felix, withdrew from the race, meet director Tom Jordan said Friday at a pre-meet news conference. No reason was given.
Despite Felix’s unexpected absence, the 400 will be a showstopper. There’s a local favorite, former Oregon Duck and reigning world champion Phyllis Francis, and also world indoor champion Courtney Okolo and Shanae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, who won gold over Felix in the 400 in the Rio Olympics.
“I knew it was going to be a hot race,” Miller-Uibo said. “From the beginning of the season, I told my agent this is a race I want to be in.”
She called Felix’s withdrawal “pretty disappointing because everyone had their minds set for a pretty competitive 400″ and added, “But I don’t think it’s going to change the race at all. It’s still a great field of girls, still a lot of girls running pretty fast times, so I’m really excited about the competition to come.”
Francis is making her 2018 outdoor debut at Hayward. Francis said that not much has changed since becoming a world champion except, she joked, that she got more Twitter followers.
“But that was last year,” she said. “I always ask myself, ‘But are you going to do this year?’ My team is really great at congratulating me, but they also are always asking me what am I going to do next.”
She credits her support system for keeping her focused and humble and hopes to pull out another win Saturday.
“It’s all about having a good team, a good group of people around you. Team, team, team,” she said. “I can’t emphasize it enough. They keep me grounded and let me know it’s OK and that no matter what they have my back. As long as I have that support system, I’m fine and I can do anything.”
Miller-Uibo is also making her 2018 debut in the 400 and has a support system of her own: her husband, Estonian decathlete Maicel Uibo.
“He’s always encouraging me and pushing me,” said Miller-Uibo. “He’s actually in Europe right now competing, so we’re both competing this weekend and hopefully we both do really well.”
Miller-Uibo calls the 400 one of the toughest events out there but it’s for that exact reason why she loves it. She won the 400 in 2016 and is excited to open with the event. “You know, every time I open in the 400, I open with a pretty decent time,” she said. “I feel a lot stronger this year. I’m excited to see what I can do.”
She also will be competing alongside her teammate, silver medalist and last year’s NCAA indoor champion, Shakima Wimbley.
“Shakima and I both have been doing a really great job in training, and I’m excited to see what kind of times we can drop,” said Miller-Uibo. “It’s all about the excitement for the crowd and making sure they have a good time when they watch it. We’re going to go there and put on a great show.”
