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Lance Brauman

Coach Brauman impressed with Miller-Uibo sprint double. 'This was not a wasted year'

Both were world-leading times and made the Bahamian sprint queen the fastest in the world in the 100, 200, and 400m for 2020.

No one would be more pleased with her progress this season than her coach Lance Brauman, who continues to be dazzled by Miller-Uibo’s extraordinary talents.

“I was really happy about the performance in both the 100 and 200, but more impressed with how she and everyone else in the group have handled this crazy year,” he told Sportsmax.TV on Monday.

He was referring to the pandemic that forced the postponement of the Olympics until 2021 as well as the cancellation of most of the Wanda Diamond League season that restricted his cluster of world-class athletes at PURE Athletics to just a few small meets.

Miller-Uibo, who ran a huge personal best of 48.37 and still surprisingly lost the 400m at the 2019 World Championships in Doha last October, had an outstanding year nonetheless. Prior to the shock loss to Salwa Eid Nasser in Doha, she had run unbeaten in both the 200m and 400m for the last two years.

Brauman said the plan this year was to be even better.

“After last season the plan was to continue to build on the success of 2019, to continue to become a better athlete and to work on becoming a better overall sprinter. This has not been a wasted year,” he said.

Wayde van Niekerk makes switch to join Lance Brauman camp in Clermont, Florida

“As much as I have enjoyed my experience with Tannie Ans and her group, I am hoping to break my world record and to do that I need to ensure I am training alongside the world’s best sprinters,” van Niekerk said in a press release today.

“So I feel a temporary move to the United States will be in my best interests for the immediate future.”

In Florida, van Niekerk, who briefly trained in Jamaica alongside Usain Bolt, prior to setting the world record of 43.03s at the 2016 Rio Olympics, will rub shoulders with 2019 World Champion Noah Lyles and Bahamian superstar Shaune Miller-Uibo, the 2016 Olympic 400 champion and 2019 World Championship silver medalist.

Van Niekerk, 28, who is making a comeback after seriously injuring his knee during a rugby game in October 2017, will reassess his future plans after the Tokyo Olympics.