SEINE-SAINT-DENIS, France — Before Brittany Brown sprints past other track stars, she primarily listens to two songs from musical legends: Beyoncé's "American Requiem" and Stevie Wonder's "As."
For Brown, it's only right.
“It just puts me in a good mood,” she said at the Nike Athlete House. “It would have me smiling and singing before. Those are my go-to songs right now.”
Brown, 29, said “As” give her the inspirational Black church feeling that exudes happiness.
“In that song, she was like ‘You thought y'all was going to play in my face,” she said. “But you guys aren't anymore. I love how Beyoncé is a woman who shows that she's going to keep coming back. I'm going to keep rebirthing myself. I love to see women do that.”
Brown, who ran collegiate track at the University of Iowa, won her 200-meter preliminary heat Sunday with a time of 22.38 seconds. It was the fourth best time out of all of the heats.
Only USA's Gabrielle Thomas (22.20), Nigeria's Favour Ofili (22.24) and Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith (22.28) ran faster in the qualifying heats.
Did Brittany Brown qualify for the women's 200m final?
On Monday, Brown ran in the semifinals and posted a time of 22.12 seconds, the best in her heat. The time qualifies her for the women's 200m finals, scheduled for Tuesday at 2:40 p.m. CT.
Thomas and Long will also be in the finals group, with Thomas posting a time of 21.86 seconds in the semifinals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
