World 100m champ Carmelita Jeter will apparently skip her signature race at U.S. nationals, which started Thursday, to rest a sore right quadriceps.
Her coach, John Smith, told the AP they “didn’t want to take any chances” in the lead up to Worlds. And because she’s the defending champ from 2011, the 33-year-old sprinter gets an automatic bid this August’s race in Moscow, which means she doesn’t actually need to compete at nationals anyway in order to defend her 100m title.
However, London 200m gold medalist Allyson Felix, who famously finished third in a dead heat with Jeneba Tarmoh at last years 100m race, then forced a runoff that never actually happened, also isn’t on this year’s 100m start list. She’ll instead stick to what she does best as she looks to earn back the 200m world title she won in 2007 and 2009.
