Shaunae Miller-Uibo (born 15 April 1994)[1] is a Bahamian track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. She is a two-time Olympic champion after winning the women's 400 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo
Personal information
Birth nameShaunae Miller
Born (1994-04-15) 15 April 1994 (age 30)
Nassau, Bahamas
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
SpouseMaicel Uibo (m 2017)
Sport
CountryThe Bahamas
SportAthletics
EventSprint
College teamGeorgia Bulldogs
ClubPure Athletics Club
Coached byLance Brauman
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals
World finals
  • 2013 Moscow
  • 200 m, 4th
  • 2015 Beijing
  • 400 m,  Silver
  • 2017 London
  • 200 m,  Bronze
  • 400 m, 4th
  • 2019 Doha
  • 400 m,  Silver
  • 2022 Eugene
  • 400 m,  Gold
Highest world ranking1 (weeks 42)
Personal bests

At the World Athletics Championships, Miller-Uibo won silver medals in the 400 m in 2015 and 2019, and a bronze at the 200 m in 2017 when she also placed fourth at her longer distance. In 2022, she won her first world outdoor and indoor 400 m titles. She holds North American records in the 400 m both outdoors and indoors, set in October 2019 and February 2021, respectively. Her marks of 48.36 (improved at the Tokyo Games) and 50.21 seconds place her respectively sixth and joint eighth on the world all-time list.[2] She holds world bests over the 300 metres outdoors and indoors.

At 16 years old, she was the 400 m 2010 World junior champion and took the World youth title a year later. At 19, Miller-Uibo placed fourth in the 200 m at the 2013 World Championships, and then took her first senior medal (a bronze) at the 2014 World Indoor Championships competing at 400 m. She was the 2018 Commonwealth Games 200 m champion and won four Diamond League titles, having secured the 200 m/400 m double in 2017; she owns circuit records in both disciplines.

Miller-Uibo holds the world's fastest women's marks in straight races of 150 m and 200 m. Her personal best of 21.74 s for the 200 m is a Bahamian national record. She won several national titles in both her disciplines and the NCAA Division I indoor title for the Georgia Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs.

Early life

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Of Afro-Bahamian heritage, Miller-Uibo was born in a Christian home to Mabelene and Shaun Miller in Nassau, Bahamas, the granddaughter and niece of pastors, on 15 April 1994.[3] She has a personal faith and trust in God.[4] Her sister is Shauntae-Ashleigh Miller, Miss Universe Bahamas 2020.

She completed her high school education at St. Augustine's College in Nassau and later attended the University of Georgia.

Youth and junior career

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Miller-Uibo competed in athletics from a very young age and won five medals at the 2007 Central American and Caribbean Age Group Championships in Athletics in the under-14 category. Bronze medals in relay races followed at the 2009 CARIFTA Games and the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.

She claimed the 400 m titles at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships and 2010 CARIFTA Games, as well as four medals with the Bahamas in the 4 × 100 metres relay and 4 × 400 metres relay. Sixteen-year-old Miller-Uibo became the first Bahamian to be 400 m champion at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics and the youngest woman to ever win the event. She won the gold medal in a time of 52.52, denying Margaret Etim, who finished second in 53.05 (this was the slowest winning time in the history of the event).[5]

In the following year, Miller-Uibo won the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics with a time of 51.84, becoming the first athlete ever to hold both the U20 and U18 championship 400 m titles concurrently.[6] She returned to defend her 400 m title at the 2011 CARIFTA Games, but was disqualified in the final. She also failed in her defence at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics, trailing in fourth. However, she won 200 m and 4 × 400 metres relay silver medals at the 2012 CARIFTA Games. In her last age category competition, she won three gold medals (200 m, 400 m, 4 × 100 metres relay) at the 2013 CARIFTA Games and was given the Austin Sealy Award as the best athlete of the tournament.

Senior career

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At the 2012 London Olympics, Miller-Uibo did not finish her 400 m heat. She turned professional in 2013, signing a sponsorship deal with Adidas.[7] She made her first global final that same year, taking fourth in the 200 m at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. The year after, Miller-Uibo won her first senior medal, finishing behind Francena McCorory and Kaliese Spencer in the 400 m at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships. She made the 200 m final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games but ended the race in sixth.

The 2015 season marked her first impact at the Diamond League, as she won the 400 m at the top level Athletissima and Memorial Van Damme meets. Miller-Uibo won the silver medal in the 400 m at the 2015 World Championships that year. She also ran with the Bahamian women's 4 × 400 m relay team in the heats at that competition and set a Bahamian national record of 3:28.46 minutes.

In 2016, Miller-Uibo won the Prefontaine Classic 400 m race.[8]

2016 Rio Olympic champion

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won the gold medal in the 400 m, diving across the line to beat Allyson Felix by 0.07 seconds and record a personal best time of 49.44 seconds.[9][10] She was the flag-bearer for the Bahamas at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[11] Miller-Uibo went on to win the gold medal again in the 400 m at the 2020 Olympics, held in Tokyo in 2021.[12]

 
Miller-Uibo races the 200 m at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London.

At the 2017 Prefontaine Classic, Miller-Uibo became the first Bahamian woman to run under 22 seconds in the 200 m, improving her own national record to 21.91 seconds.[13] On 4 June 2017, she set the 200 metres straight world record of 21.76 s, greatly improving the previous record of 22.55 s set by Allyson Felix.[14] At the 2017 World Championships in London, she won the bronze medal in the 200 m event and finished fourth in the 400 m final. That same year, Miller-Uibo became the first Bahamian ever to win a Diamond League title as she claimed both the 200 m and 400 m titles.

Having dominated the 200 m during 2018 and 2019 and clocking a world-leading time in the 400 m in 2018, Miller-Uibo won the 400 m silver medal at the 2019 World Championships in Athletics in Qatar, running the tenth fastest time in history, a national record of 48.37 seconds.[15][16] The winner of the event, Salwa Eid Naser, was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit in June 2020 for missing four anti-doping tests in 12 months, the last of which was in January 2020.[17]

On 13 February 2021, Miller-Uibo broke the NACAC indoor 400 m record with a time of 50.21 seconds, set at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in New York.[1] On 4 April, she opened her outdoor season with a world-leading time of 22.03 s, her fastest ever 200 m opener, set at the Pure Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, Florida.[18]

In March 2022, she claimed her first world title as a senior, winning the women's 400 m event at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade with a time of 50.31 s, after her bronze indoor debut in 2014.[19] Later that year in July, Miller-Uibo went on to secure her first senior world outdoor title at the World Championships Eugene 2022 in a time of 49.11 s, winning by nearly half a second in leading a Caribbean sweep. Afterwards, she revealed that she is looking forward to changing her main discipline to the 200 metres and possibly heptathlon.[20][21]

Personal life

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Miller met Maicel Uibo, an Estonian decathlete who won silver at the 2019 World Championships in Georgia, and the pair married in 2017.[22] On 4 February 2023, she announced her first pregnancy via Instagram.[23] The baby, a son named Maicel Uibo Jr, was born on 20 April.[24]

Achievements

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Women's 200 m podium at the 2017 World Championships in London (L–R): Marie-Josée Ta Lou, Dafne Schippers and Shaunae Miller-Uibo.
 
Women's 400 m podium at the 2019 World Championships in Doha (L–R): Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Salwa Eid Naser and Shericka Jackson.
 
Miller-Uibo (R) claimed her first senior world title with a 400 m victory at the 2022 World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade.

Personal bests

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Type Distance Time (s) Wind (m/s) Venue Date Notes
Outdoor 100 metres 10.98 +1.4 Clermont, FL, United States 24 July 2020
150 metres 17.15 -2.5 Bradenton, FL, United States 9 July 2020
200 metres 21.74 -0.4 Zürich, Switzerland 29 August 2019 NR
300 metres 34.41 Ostrava, Czech Republic 20 June 2019 World best[25]
400 metres 48.36 Tokyo, Japan 6 August 2021 North American record, 6th all time
Indoor 200 metres 22.40 Fayetteville, AR, United States 31 January 2021 NR
300 metres 35.45 New York, NY United States 3 February 2018 AB =World best[26]
400 metres 50.21 New York, NY United States 13 February 2021 =10th all time
Other events
Outdoor 150 m straight 16.23 -0.7 Boston, MA, United States 20 May 2018 1st all time [27][28]
200 m straight 21.76 +0.5 Boston, MA, United States 4 June 2017 1st all time [29]

International competitions

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Representing the   Bahamas
Year Competition Venue Position Event Result
2007 CAC Age Group Championships (U14) San Salvador, El Salvador 3rd 80 m 10.30
3rd 60 m hurdles 9.82
3rd Long jump 4.84 m
2nd Shot put 8.44 m
2nd Hexathlon 3324 pts
2009 CARIFTA Games (U17)[note 1] Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia 5th 100 m 11.94 w
6th 300 m hurdles 44.55
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 47.04
3rd 4 × 400 m relay 3:45.99
Pan American Junior Championships Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 5th 4 × 100 m relay 45.85
3rd 4 × 400 m relay 3:42.17
2010 CAC Junior Championships (U17) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 3rd 200 m 24.51
1st 400 m 53.39
2nd 4 × 100 m relay 46.64
2nd 4 × 400 m relay 3:51.27
CARIFTA Games (U17) George Town, Cayman Islands 1st 400 m 53.36
4th 300 m hurdles 43.35
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 46.85
3rd 4 × 400 m relay 3:48.86
World Junior Championships Moncton, Canada 1st 400 m 52.52
4th 4 × 400 m relay 3:33.43
2011 CARIFTA Games Montego Bay, Jamaica DQ 400 m False start
3rd 4 × 400 m relay 3:41.05
World Youth Championships Lille, France 1st 400 m 51.84
2012 CARIFTA Games (U20) Hamilton, Bermuda 2nd 200 m 23.18
2nd 4 × 400 m relay 3:40.44
World Junior Championships Barcelona, Spain 4th 400 m 51.78
Olympic Games London, United Kingdom DNF (heats) 400 m Did not finish
2013 CARIFTA Games (U20) Nassau, Bahamas 1st 200 m 22.77 CR
1st 400 m 51.63
1st 4 × 100 m relay 44.77
World Championships Moscow, Russia 4th 200 m 22.74
DQ (semis) 4 × 100 m relay Lane infringement
2014 World Indoor Championships Sopot, Poland 3rd 400 m 52.06
Commonwealth Games Glasgow, United Kingdom 6th 400 m 53.08
7th (semis) 4 × 100 m relay 44.50 Q[note 2]
7th 4 × 400 m relay 3:34.86
2015 World Relays Nassau, Bahamas DQ 4 × 200 m relay Illegal pass
World Championships Beijing, China 2nd 400 m 49.67
10th (semis) 4 × 400 m relay 3:28.46 NR
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 400 m 49.44
2017 World Relays Nassau, Bahamas 10th (semis) 4 × 400 m relay 3:34.40
1st 4 × 400 m mixed 3:14.42
World Championships London, United Kingdom 3rd 200 m 22.15
4th 400 m 50.49
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 1st 200 m 22.09 GR
Continental Cup Ostrava, Czech Republic 1st 200 m 22.16
1st 4 × 100 m relay 42.11
1st 4 × 400 m mixed 3:13.01
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 2nd 400 m 48.37 AR
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 8th 200 m 24.00
1st 400 m 48.36 AR
2022 World Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 1st 400 m 50.31 SB
World Championships Eugene, OR, United States 1st 400 m 49.11 WL
NACAC Championships Freeport, Bahamas 1st 400 m 49.40
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 37th (h) 400 m 52.65
2024 Olympic Games Paris, France 26th (rep) 400 m 53.50
  1. ^ Miller competed in the under-20 (U20) category for the 4×400 m relay.
  2. ^ Miller ran for the Bahamian team in the semis and helped them qualify for the final, but she was replaced with another runner in the final; The squad that ran in the final finished 6th.

Circuit wins and titles

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400 metres wins, other events specified in parentheses

National titles

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  • Bahamian National Championships
    • 200 m: 2017,2021
    • 400 m: 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021
    • High jump: 2018

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Shaunae MILLER-UIBO – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. ^ "All time Top lists – Womens 400m – Senior Outdoor | until 2022-01-01". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ Shaunae Miller. Georgia Dogs. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  4. ^ Weir, Stuart (February 2019). "Twelve Questions with Shaunae Miller-Uibo". RunBlogRun. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  5. ^ World Junior Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  6. ^ "IAAF Inside Athletics Season 2 - Episode 13 - Shaunae Miller". YouTube. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  7. ^ "Bahamian quarter-miler Shaunae Miller turns pro – Sport". JamaicaObserver.com. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  8. ^ "Shaunae Miller wins 400m, Jamaicans finish 4th and 5th at Prefontaine Classic – Sport". JamaicaObserver.com. 28 May 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  9. ^ Thomas, Claire (16 August 2016). "Shaunae Miller dives over line to win controversial Olympic gold in 400 metres". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Rio Olympics 2016: Shaunae Miller dives at line to snatch 400m gold". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Miller qualifies for Olympics in second event". thenassauguardian.com. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  12. ^ "Athletics - Final Results - Women's 400m" (PDF). olympics.com. 6 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  13. ^ "Shaunae Miller-Uibo breaks national 200m record".
  14. ^ "Shaunae Miller-Uibo makes history with 200m straight world record | The Tribune". Tribune242.com. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  15. ^ Senior Outdoor 400 Metres Women. IAAF (2019-10-05). Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  16. ^ Homewood, Brian (3 October 2019). "Eid Naser stuns Miller-Uibo to win 400 metres in third-fastest time". Reuters. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  17. ^ "Naser missed four anti-doping tests". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  18. ^ Leighton, Levy (5 April 2021). "Miller-Uibo stuns with world-leading 22.03 200m opener at Pure Athletics Spring Invitational". SportsMax. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas won in a season's best 50.31 seconds while Holland's Femke Bol was second in 50.57 seconds". Jamaican Observer. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  20. ^ Wheeler, Daniel (24 July 2022). "Miller-Uibo has run her last 400". The Gleaner. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  21. ^ McAlister, Sean (24 July 2022). "World champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo considers heptathlon future as she calls time on illustrious 400m career". Olympics.com. IOC. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  22. ^ "Golden girl meets her match". The Tribune. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  23. ^ "Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Olympic 400m champion, announces pregnancy". NBC Sports. 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  24. ^ ""Welcome to the world Maicel Uibo Jr"- Olympic and World champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo gives birth to son". SportsMax TV. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  25. ^ Shryack, Lincoln (20 June 2019). "De Grasse Beats Coleman, Miller-Uibo Smashes 300m World Best". FloTrack. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  26. ^ "Athletics: U.S. sets 4x800m record, Miller-Uibo equals fastest 300m". Reuters. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  27. ^ "150m Results". adidasboostboston.com. 20 May 2018. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  28. ^ "Shaunae Miller-Uibo breaks world 150m best in Boston – weekly round-up". Athletics Weekly. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  29. ^ "Van Niekerk wins 200 meters race at speedy Boston street meet". Reuters. 5 June 2017.
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Records
Preceded by Women's 400 m North and Central American record holder
3 October 2019 – present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for   Bahamas
Rio de Janeiro 2016
Succeeded by