Track legend Allyson Felix to take final victory lap Friday night

One more lap. That’s all that’s left for the legendary Allyson Felix on the international stage when she competes at her final World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon at historic Hayward Field. Felix will compete in the mixed relay on Friday night after failing to qualify for the open 400m at the U.S. Championships last month.

Can it really be considered a failure, though? In her 18-year career, Felix has become the most decorated track and field athlete in history, with a medal to match every year she has competed for the U.S. She is a force to be reckoned with and has made a name for herself that will not be forgotten. To not qualify in the open 400m at the age of 36 against women who are just a little less than half her age can certainly not be called a failure.

It’s hard to believe Felix wasn’t born running with the times she has recorded and the medals she has collected along the way. In fact, her first love was basketball. In her freshman year of high school she decided to give track a shot. During time trials at her first practice, her coach, Jonathan Patton, thought he must have misplaced the cones because her times were simply too fast to make sense.

Over the next four years, Felix continued to progress at an alarming rate, cutting off a half-second of her time on a regular basis. In a 200m race, that half-second amounts to a massive improvement. In May 2003, she beat the great Marion Jones’ world junior record in the 200m and went on to win one Gatorade’s coveted National Athlete of the Year awards. Her male counterpart? LeBron James.

Her husband shared he was hoping to “shoot his shot” at the Junior Nationals in 2003 after watching her budding career unfold. He thought he wouldn’t have the chance when he heard she injured her hamstring prior to the event. In order to have qualified for Worlds, she would have had to finish in the top three in her event. And qualify she did with her hamstring wrapped tightly.

Following high school, Felix turned professional right away signing a contract with Adidas. She went on to compete at the 2004 Olympic Trials and despite her youth, she blew the competition away and looked like she still had more to give.

Felix has been the kind of quiet athlete who lets her performance do the talking for her. In 2018, however, she began to speak up. While negotiating a new contract with Nike, she wrote an op-ed that was published in the New York Times criticizing the company for the discriminatory pay toward new mothers and pregnant athletes. She went on to sign a new deal with the Gap-owned Athleta before founding her own company, Saysh, which introduced groundbreaking paternity leave for its employees with four months of fully paid leave followed by two months of part-time pay.

For other athletes considering parenthood, she has been a trailblazer proving the women can do it all. They can be a professional athlete, a spouse, a mother all while pursuing their dreams and inciting change along the way. Felix is joining the ranks of other inspiring female athletes such as the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team in fighting for what they ultimately deserve. She has spoken before the Supreme Court about the overwhelming Black maternal mortality rate and has given TED talks on it, as well, giving a glimpse into what retirement may look like for her.

For now, though, she will lace up her spikes one more time and run the most epic victory lap of her career when she represents the U.S. for the final time Friday evening. While she may not be entirely ready for retirement, in a press conference Thursday, Felix said, “There have been lots of ups and downs – I love the sport so much, it’s broken my heart many times but I’ve also had many joyous moments, so for me it’s just completely full circle to be able to come here to end at home. It’s just going to be very special.”

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