Two-time world champion sprinter Dafne Schippers says she is retiring from the sport
FILE - Netherlands’ Dafne Schippers celebrates after winning the Women’s 200 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in London Friday, Aug. 11, 2017. Two-time world 200-meter champion Dafne Schippers announced Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, she is retiring from track and field at the age of 31. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Two-time world champion sprinter Dafne Schippers is retiring from track and field at the age of 31.
Schippers, a Dutchwoman who won back-to-back world titles in the 200 meters, transformed herself from a heptathlete who won a bronze medal in the event at the 2013 world championships in Moscow to a powerful sprinter. She won the 200 at the 2015 worlds in Beijing and repeated the victory two years later in London. She also won silver in the 100 meters at the worlds in Beijing.
“The race stops here,” Schippers said in a post on Instagram. “As an athlete, you always know this day will come, that at one point, your career will be a moment in time — a collection of memories and hopefully medals.”
In between her two world titles, Schippers won an Olympic silver medal after finishing second behind Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson in the 200-meter race at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
The Dutchwoman’s career was hampered by injuries after her two world titles and she never won another major title.
“Today, I have decided to take my life off track to pursue and embrace whatever comes next, but not without saying a massive thank you for all the endless support,” Schippers said in her Instagram post. “It has been a journey without regret.”
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