1. SHAUNAE MILLER
Our No.1 athlete to watch out for in Beijing is 200m/400m specialist, Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas. The 21-year old will be making a return to the World Championships after competing in Moscow, and is a medal contender in both events. She currently occupies an impressive No. 2 position in the 2015 world rankings in the 400m, just behind world leader, Francena McCorory who tops the list with 49.83s.
Miller is 5th in the 200m this year with an NR of 22.14s, set at the Jamaican Invitational where she defeated the more experienced pair of Tori Bowie and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. She clocked a PB of 49.92s to win the Lausanne Diamond League ahead of Olympic champion, Sanya Richards-Ross, making her only the third Bahamian woman to dip under the 50s barrier. She seems to be in good form to medal in the 400m, following the non-qualification of both McCorory and Richards-Ross.
The world indoors Bronze medallist may likely go head-to-head against Allyson Felix who is No. 4 in 2015 with 50.05s. Miller already has two world titles in the 400m, winning the 2010 World Junior Championships and adding the world youth title in 2011, making history as the first Bahamian to win the event. If she is able to capture the world title in the 400m, she will become one of only 10 athletes to have won the World championships at youth, junior and senior levels.
Others who have achieved this feat are Usain Bolt, Kirani James, Valerie Adams, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels and David Storl. Bahamian 400m NR holder (49.07s) and former Olympic GOLD medallist, Tonique Williams, had this to say about Miller’s progress: “I think she’s going to be able to go to the World Championships and prove that, based on her times, she has the ability to compete with any of the women in the world in whichever race she decides to compete in.” Yes you can Miller!
