Dutch athlete Schippers to focus on sprinting instead of heptathlon ahead of worlds, Olympics

By Mike Corder And Raf Casert

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE HAGUE, Netherlands _ Dafne Schippers will focus on sprinting instead of the heptathlon as she aims to break the American and Jamaican dominance of the 100 and 200 metres at the world championships in August and Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Schippers, who took heptathlon bronze at the world championships two years ago, is also the European champion at 100 and 200 metres.

“The heptathlon is very tough. There are a couple of things that hold me back,” Schippers said at a news conference on Wednesday. “Sprinting is the right road to take, but not an easy road.”

Over the past two years, it has sometimes seemed as if Schippers was hesitant to embrace her raw sprint talent, as it drew her toward the inevitable rejection of her first love: Multi-event competing.

But at recent meets, the 22-year-old’s sprinting has put her in the spotlight.

Last month, she became the first Dutch woman to run under 11 seconds for the 100, clocking 10.94 seconds at the FBK Games in Hengelo. Last year in Glasgow, she beat Olympic champion Allyson Felix into second place in a 200.

Europeans have struggled to get into the starting blocks in the sprint finals at recent world championships and Olympics, but Schippers had the second fastest 200 last year. Underscoring that, she has the mental as well as physical strength to win at big meets when she picked up the sprint double at the European Championships.

That pedigree already makes her a strong contender in Rio next year, and her sprinting should only get better as she drops field events like the shot put and javelin from her training regimen.

Focusing only on sprinting will also give Schippers more time to work on her start, which still is too slow to vie for gold at the highest level. It is her only major weakness at this point.