Olympic medal-winning hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep is retiring from competitive track and field.
She made the announcement Thursday morning at Edmonton’s Delta South hotel.
The announcement ends a stellar career that saw her win bronze at the 2008 Olympics – Canada’s only track and field medal in Beijing – and silver at the 2009 world championships.
Her best season was 2010, when she went undefeated through 12 races to earn the world number one ranking, and capped the summer by winning the prestigious Diamond League crown.
The 33-year-old announced last fall that she was switching sports to bobsled as the brakeman for two-time Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries.
Lopes-Schliep hadn’t hurdled in competition since the 2012 Olympic trials, where she’d made a spectacular comeback from having her first child, only to miss out on the team for the London Games.
She says what she’ll miss most is that moment before the gun goes off, when a hush falls over the crowd.
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