Allyson Felix is wrapping up her legendary track and field career in an appropriate way: with one last world championship medal. Felix secured a bronze in the mixed 4×400-meter relay on June 15 at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, OR, winning her 20th world championship medal alongside teammates Elija Godwin, Vernon Norwood, and Kennedy Simon. It was a fitting world championships send-off — on American soil, no less! — for the most decorated US track and field athlete of all time.
Felix ran the second leg of the relay, a spot that’s become something of a specialty of hers over her long career. (She recently ran the second leg of the women’s 4×400-meter relay at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, leading an American all-star team to a runaway victory.) She sustained a solid lead for three-quarters of her lap around the track before Olympic 400m silver medalist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic pulled ahead of her just before the baton exchange. The US finished with bronze after both the Dominican Republic’s and the Netherlands’s final runners passed US anchor Kennedy Simon in a tight finish at the line.
For Felix, though, the color of the medal is of secondary importance. Over the last few years of her career, the 37-year-old has raced for more than just success on the track. She’s become a voice for mothers, athletes with children, and women’s equality through her work as an advocate for Black maternal health and her women-first lifestyle brand Saysh. “I think the last couple of years, I’ve stepped outside of just the clock and the medals,” Felix said after the race, according to World Athletics. “I never would have imagined that would be a place that I would come to, but I have, and I think it’s being a representation for women and mothers . . . I felt really proud tonight, and fulfilled.”
Felix’s three-year-old daughter, Camryn, watched her mom’s last race on the world championship stage from the stands. When she was asked what she hoped Cami would take away from her career, Felix reflected on much more than her results. “I think it’s about being a fighter,” she said. “[T]hat’s the spirit I hope she carries over and the confidence I hope that she has. That’s what I want to teach her. You always stand up for what you believe in, for what’s right.”
Watch Felix’s emotional last race above.