BEIJING - In a 200m competition lacking Allyson Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, tonight’s World Championship final figured to be one of the least intriguing races of these championships. 

 

Think again. 

 

Netherlands’ Dafne Schippers, who was a full-time heptathlete up until this year, won gold tonight in Beijing with a stunning 21.63 time, the first sub-22 of her career and the third-fastest in history behind only Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34) and Marion Jones (21.62). Schippers performance tonight was also a World Championship record. 

 

The 23-year-old also won the silver medal in the 100m earlier on Monday in a 10.81 national record, and coupled with her performance tonight, makes her the breakout performer of these championships. 

 

“I hoped before coming here for the gold medal and for a time under 22 seconds. I did it both, but I can’t believe it. What a race, what a tournament for me,” a delighted Schippers told the IAAF.

 

Schippers' run tonight was night and day different from the men’s 200m a night prior, where Usain Bolt got out hard and never looked back en route to an easy 19.55 victory. In contrast, Schippers had to fight tooth and nail to the line to catch Jamaican Elaine Thompson, who was a close 2nd tonight in 21.66, making her the fifth-fastest woman in history. 

 

The victory was still in question with less than 10m to the line, but the Dutchwoman had the extra surge tonight that Thompson did not, nabbing gold ahead of the Jamaican with an emphatic lean.

 

“I stayed relaxed the last 30, 40 meters and that’s why I won,” she said. 

 

Thompson herself was elated to grab the silver, as Jamaica went 2-3 with Veronica Campbell-Brown earning bronze in 21.97. 

 

“Schippers is a great competitor. I am not disappointed at all that I did not win because I come home with a medal,” the 23-year-old said.

 

For Campbell-Brown, who won this event in the Bird’s Nest at the 2008 Olympic Games, the bronze tonight in Beijing was her 19th career global medal. Despite her pedigree, tonight’s sub-22 performance for VCB was a full half-second season’s best for the 33-year-old Jamaican, who did not appear to be in medal contention entering these championships.

 

“It was going up and down all the season, so I am grateful I came out with the medal and the season best,” Campbell-Brown told the IAAF. 

 

But the night belonged to Schippers, who has established herself as a superstar at these championships. 

 

Her personal best is now of course faster than American Allyson Felix, who is the reigning Olympic champion, and who just yesterday won gold in the 400m. Felix decided to skip the 200m at Worlds this year due to scheduling, but has said that she will target the 200m at next year’s Rio Olympics if she is forced to pick between the two again.

 

With Schippers surprisingly re-writing the record books in Beijing and with Felix dominating in an off-event this season, a heavyweight match-up in Rio between the two women will be one to watch in 2016.