Shaunae Miller-Uibo Say She’s In the Best Shape of Her Life: “I Just Feel A Whole Lot Stronger This Year.”
By Jonathan Gault
June 14, 2019
Editor’s note: On Sunday the adidas Boost Boston Games and adidas Boost Boston Back Bay Mile will take place on Boylston St – home to the finish line of the Boston Marathon. A schedule for the adidas Boost Boston Games which will be televised live on NBC from 4:30-6 pm ET is here. The mile schedule is here. Jonathan Gault talked to Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Noah Lyles, Ajee’ Wilson, and Robby Andrews at today’s pre-event presser. His article on Miller-Uibo appears below. There are three other articles: a Noah Lyles article is here, an Ajee’ Wilson article is here, and a Robby Andrews article is here.
BOSTON — Shaunae Miller-Uibo says that she’s in the best shape of her life. Which, when you’re the reigning Olympic 400-meter champion and the fastest woman of this decade, is a bold proclamation, particularly with the World Championships over three months away.
“I just feel a whole lot stronger this year, I haven’t been working a whole lot on that the past two years,” says Miller-Uibo, 25. “I just feel stronger with everything that I do, the work I was never doing in practice, everything just comes a whole lot easier now.”
Noah Lyles, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Robby Andrews, & Ajee’ Wilson in Boston on Friday
The results back it up. Miller-Uibo opened her 2019 season by clocking 49.05 at the Tom Jones Memorial in Florida on April 27 — the fastest time ever run before the month of June. Her next time out, in Kingston on June 8, she demolished reigning world champ Phyllis Francis, 49.54 to 50.85.
But Miller-Uibo believes the best is yet to come. She has yet to run a Diamond League in 2019, and isn’t worried about peaking too early — “I know my body, obviously my coach (Lance Brauman) knows exactly what he’s doing.” Miller-Uibo even managed to use the classic cliche thrown out by all distance runners around this time of year: “we haven’t been doing much speed.”
The difference is longer interval sessions — 450- or 500-meter repeats, rather than Miller-Uibo’s preferred 250’s — aimed at building up Miller-Uibo’s strength. As talented as Miller-Uibo is, she has struggled at the end of her biggest races. In the 2016 Olympic final, she barely held on to win, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, resulting in her famous dive across the finish line. A year later, she held a healthy lead off the final bend in the World Championship final in London but again tied up, fading from first to fourth in the final meters. Miller-Uibo is hoping that this year’s final, in Doha on October 3, will be a little less dramatic.
But first, Miller-Uibo and several more of the sport’s big names will compete this weekend at the adidas Boost Boston Games, on a temporary track on Boylston Street in Boston’s Back Bay, the same spot where thousands of runners cross the Boston Marathon finish line every April. Miller-Uibo has broken world records in each of her two appearances at this meet so far, running the straight 200 meters in 21.76 in 2017 and the 150 in 16.23 in 2018, and will again run the 150 on Sunday.
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Miller-Uibo declines to discuss fight with Tori Bowie that led to Bowie’s exit from PURE Athletics
In January, FloTrack published an article detailing world 100-meter champion Tori Bowie‘s exit from the Clermont, Fla.-based training group headed by Lance Brauman, coach of Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Noah Lyles. In the article, Bowie said that she was involved in an altercation with Miller-Uibo that resulted in Bowie bleeding from the head.
I had not seen Miller-Uibo comment on this incident anywhere, and asked her for her version of events and what her current relationship with Bowie was like. Miller-Uibo declined to comment on either issue.
More from today’s press event: Noah Lyles on Christian Coleman: “Some people just don’t like you.You can’t do nothing about it” The world’s fastest 100 meter man also reiterated once again that he has zero plans to run the 100 at USAs and Worlds. Plus he says he’s “more excited” to train after losing to Michael Norman in Rome.
Robby Andrews is trying to come back from hell but he’s not making any excuses, “There’s no real excuse for running 1:54.” Andrews who is coming back from Lyme disease and surgery was horrific earlier this week when he ran 1:54 for 800.
Ajee’ Wilson plans to eventually move up to the 1500, perhaps as soon as next year US 1500 Olympic hopefuls, your nightmare may become reality in 2020.