Dafne Schippers, a world champion and Olympic medalist in the 200m, announced her retirement from track and field at age 31.
“The race stops here,” was posted on her social media. “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. Today, I have decided to take my life off track to pursue and embrace whatever comes next.”
Schippers won back-to-back world 200m titles in 2015 and 2017, plus an Olympic silver medal in 2016, after converting from the heptathlon (where she earned world bronze in 2013).
In 2015, she won worlds in 21.63 seconds, which at the time made her the third-fastest woman in history in the event behind Florence Griffith-Joyner and Marion Jones. She’s now sixth-fastest in history.
She was slowed by injuries after her last major title in 2017.
She withdrew during her last worlds in 2019 with an adductor problem and was eliminated in the 200m heats at her last Olympics in Tokyo after two years’ worth of back injuries.
Her last race was in July 2022.
