Following her national records of 11.03 and 22.34 in both the 100m and 200m on the same day in Glasgow on Saturday, Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands has decided to focus on sprinting instead of the heptathlon for the European Athletics Championships in Zurich this summer.
In addition to setting those records, she leads the European Athletics Rankings over the two distances and it seems only natural she dedicate herself to these events.
However Schippers will not leave the heptathlon behind as she expects to compete in the multi-events at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing next year.
Still only 22, Schippers is one of Europe’s most promising young athletes and could become just the tenth women athlete to achieve the 100m/200m double in the history of the European Athletics Championships.
WOMEN WHO HAVE ACHIEVED THE SPRINT DOUBLE AT A EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Vienna 1938 - Stella Walaisiewicz (POL).
Oslo 1946 - Yevgeniya Sechenova (USR).
Brussels 1950 - Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED).
Athens 1969 - Petra Vogt (GDR).
Helsinki 1971 - Renate Stecher (GDR).
Rome 1974 - Irena Szewinska (POL).
Split 1990 - Katrin Krabbe (GDR).
Helsinki 1994 - Irina Privalova (RUS).
Göteborg 2006 - Kim Gevaert (BEL).