Allyson Felix (© Jay Bendlin / WCH Oregon22)
The first day of the first World Athletics Championships on U.S. soil concluded with a race for the ages.
A race for the ages is a term that gets thrown around a lot when we see someone run fast or a remarkable upset is pulled.
On Friday, in the first medal event on the track at Hayward Field, three relay teams were awarded medals for finishing ahead of other teams in the race.
For the Dominican Republic, it was a moment that will long be treasured. A comeback victory in front of a cheering crowd in the mixed 4x400m relay run for only the third time at a major global championships. There was also great pride for Netherlands, which possesses one of the sport's brightest starts in Femke Bol, a woman who is comfortable running over hurdles and even better running around and past people.
And one person in that race walked off Hayward Field time for the final time in her career. For Allyson Felix, this was her last appearance at a major championship meet before she finishes with a meet or two at home in Los Angeles before retiring from the sport.
Many people came to Hayward Field on Friday to watch the sport they love, cheer for their favorite track and field heroes or see what these World Athletics Championships Oregon22 were all about. Why was the 18th edition of this event here now in Eugene, Oregon, and in the United States when it had never been here before and oftentimes in such far-away places as Doha, Qatar, Daegu, South Korea, Tokyo, and Beijing?
And they came to see Felix, to see her run one last time, to cheer her on and hope she had one more victory in her.
“I wasn’t sure how it would feel to run here at home in a World Championship, but it was really cool,” Felix said. “I felt the love, I saw signs, just moments people shared with me, so I was feeling that and then of course, cheering the team on.”
The results say the Dominican Republic won in 3 minutes, 9.82 seconds with Netherlands second in 3:09.90, and Felix’s U.S. squad third in 3:10.16.
American fans love a winner, and no one won more than Felix. Her relay medal Friday was her 19th in her 10th World Athletics Championships appearance. She has 12 World Athletics Championships gold medals and seven Olympic gold medals, and 11 Olympic medals. But in the end, and in the middle, and maybe even the beginning, it was about more than winning which made Felix the icon she is.
“There is no single (favorite) story of Allyson for me,” said Elija Godwin, a college standout at the University of Georgia who finished fourth at the U.S. Championships and ran the opening leg on the mixed relay team in Friday morning’s semifinals and again in the final.
“It’s what she did, and the manner in which she did it, which made her an icon in the sport. For us to come out and compete for her, it’s a blessing to have the opportunity. You have to work really hard to even get here. We can go out with a bang with Allyson on the track. It feels good for me. It just felt like the right kind of history.”
Felix’s teammates, which also included Vernon Norwood and Kennedy Simon, like Godwin fresh off the college scene after a standout season at Texas, refused to yield to the notion that not winning and letting Felix leave one last time with a gold medal, was a disappointment. There was no Hollywood storybook ending to Felix’s last race, but there was no need for one.
“I’m a competitor, so I like close races," Godwin said. “I went out there and had fun. The energy was good, the energy is still good. People keep asking us, are we happy with the bronze medal? Yes, we are happy with the bronze medal. We came out here and we competed against the world so that’s big. I’m not going to belittle it or anything, we’re happy. It was a successful night.”
Added Norwood: “This bronze medal feels like a gold medal.”
Simon agreed.
“We just wanted to do everything we could so Allyson would leave with a medal,” she said.
Felix left with more than that. She left with a lot of memories Friday night. In the twilight of her career, after having daughter, Cami, in November 2018, Felix found a new purpose to her running. The running was less about her success and the platform she had to advocate for women and mothers everywhere, particularly those who tried to return to sport after having a child.
“I think the last couple of years, I’ve stepped outside of just the clock and the medals,” Felix said. “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 that, it was a really emotional day all over from people telling me and messages I got. I felt really proud tonight, and fulfilled.”
The greatest track and field athlete left her last race fulfilled. To the average fan, it may not have seemed fulfilling the way it played out on the track with the U.S. team being run down from behind, but in some ways, it embodied Felix’s career. While it has been better and, in many cases, longer than anyone else’s ever, it’s also brought its share of near-misses and what-ifs?
“There’s a lot of moments in this sport where my heart’s been broken by it,” Felix said, “and I think those moments have made me better. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there’s a lot to learn from them. Instead of being devastated I can pick up the pieces and go on.”
The sport of track and field will go on, too, whether Felix is a part of it or not. It’s certainly been way better with Felix a part of it. Felix will be 37 in November, 10 days before her daughter turns 4. Felix has often spoken of what she hopes her daughter takes from her mother’s legacy, although at her age, Cami may be too young to recognize what it means. In fact, when Felix came through the media interview area after receiving her medal Friday, a reporter asked her where Cami was.
“She’s having ice cream,” Felix said. “She’s living her best life.”
Felix hopes she’s helped provide that for her daughter and others with the example she set on and off the track. She created her own athletic shoe line after a fight with Nike after she accused the apparel and shoe company of refusing to guarantee salary protections for female athletes in the months following pregnancy in an editorial she wrote for the New York Times after Cami was born.
“I think it’s about being a fighter,” Felix said when asked what she hoped her daughter would take away from her career. “That’s something that it doesn’t matter what you do, that’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.”
Friday was “was an emotional day from the beginning, right before the race. I think I just didn’t expect the outpouring of people just sharing moments with me. I think I felt all the emotions and I’m not that emotional of a person,” Felix said.
A year ago, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the fighter and the icon and greatness in Felix poured out when she turned back the clock and won a bronze medal in the 400m. A few days later, she broke her tie with Carl Lewis as the most decorated U.S. track and field Olympian ever when she won a gold medal on a 4x400m relay which included Athing Mu, a teenage prodigy almost half of Felix’s age.
She briefly gave us another one of those track moments Friday night.
It came shortly after she took off on the second leg of the relay, having received the baton from Godwin. When she reached the backstretch, she began to cut inside from lane 6 to lane 1 and when she began to reach the inside of the track, the sun hit track and field’s brightest star, and one could look down the backstretch and see it again. The burst of speed. The grace of poetry in motion. The best the sport has ever seen.
And then a few moments later, she was off the Hayward Field track for good. Waving to Cami in the stands. Saying hello to her, and goodbye to us.
By Ashley Conklin
