A great figure in European athletics is retiring. The Dutch Dafne Schippers, double world champion in the 200m, has just announced this Tuesday that she is ending her career at the age of 31. The sprinter has been hampered by back injuries for several years. “The race stops here, it’s time to explore other paths,” wrote on social networks the one who won world gold in 2015 in Beijing then in 2017 in London.
The native of Utrecht, initially a specialist in combined events (bronze medal in the heptathlon at the Moscow World Championships in 2013) also became Olympic vice-champion in the 200m in Rio in 2016. Dafne Schippers still holds the record for ‘Europe of the distance in 21”63, during his exploit on August 28, 2015 in Beijing.
Her last notable performances (notably a silver medal in the 60m at the Euro indoors in Glasgow) date back to 2019. That year, bothered by physical problems, the Dutch athlete had to give up defending her title on 200m at the World Championships in Doha.