Athletics-Felix to run 400m and relays at worlds

By Gene Cherry July 29 (Reuters) - Olympic 200 metres gold medallist Allyson Felix has chosen to run the 400 metres at next month's world championships, her coach told Reuters on Wednesday. "We wanted to do both (the 200m and 400m) but the schedule will not allow it, so it's the 400," Bob Kersee said in a telephone interview from Oregon. "It's more of a challenge for us," Kersee added when asked why the longer race. Had the 29-year-old American attempted both races, as she did at the 2011 worlds, she would have had to run the semi-finals of the 200m an hour before the 400m final on Aug. 27. The 200m final is the next day. Felix will also compete in both the 4x100 and 4x400 metres relays in Beijing, Kersee said. The year's fastest at 200 metres, Felix could have run either the 200m or 400m or both in the world championships. She had a bye into the 200m as the 2014 Diamond League winner and won the 400m at June's U.S. world championships trials. "Excited to step it up and challenge myself next month," Felix said on her Instagram account along with a picture of her training and the words "Getting some 400 work in to get ready for worlds." Kersee said he hopes organisers will return to a schedule he felt would be more favourable for runners to compete in both the 200m and 400m races. Asked if that meant, Felix would consider doing both at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Kersee said: "Yes. "That would be the crowning point of her career." (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Frank Pingue)