By Aaron Heisen for the University of Oregon SOJC Track Bureau
It’s tough to encapsulate Allyson Felix’s career into one story. Heading into 2022, it was headlined by 18 World Championship medals and 11 Olympic medals.
None of those medals, however, came in her home country — an experience that Felix yearned for throughout her career.
“I would always feel a little envious of athletes when we would be other places and they would announce someone from the home country,” Felix said. “There would always be this huge applause.”
On Friday, on the opening night of the World Athletics Championships, Felix achieved that feeling.
As she received the baton for the last time in her career on the second leg of the 4×400-meter mixed relay, she was greeted with a deafening uproar from the cheering Hayward Field crowd. Her home country’s crowd.
The 4×400, however, did not result in a U.S. gold medal. Instead, the Dominican Republic won the race in 3 minutes, 9.82 seconds, and the Netherlands finished second in 3:09.89.
While the United States did not win the event, the bronze medal extended Felix’s record total of Olympic and world championship medals to 30.
The Dominican Republic athletes will return to their home country, where they’ll be greeted by a celebration after they won the race in a surprise fashion.
“We are a small country, but we have a big heart,” said Lidio Feliz, who ran the first leg. “We did a great job as a team, and I hope we can achieve another good result in Paris. I have a lot of admiration for Allyson Felix.”
Felix ran the second leg and received the baton from Elija Godwin, who had gotten the United States out to a lead of nearly a second. By the end of Felix’s leg, however, the rest of the field had caught up.
Vernon Norwood regained the lead for the Americans on the third leg. When the Dominican Republic’s Fiordaliza Cofil received the baton from Alexander Ogando for the final leg, her team trailed the U.S. by 20 meters. However, with 100 meters to go, Cofil had cut down that deficit to five meters. She then made her move to the outside and overtook Kennedy Simon on the frontstretch. Cofil ran the final leg in 50.56 seconds.
While Felix was unable to earn her 17th World Championship gold. She and her three U.S. teammates remained positive after the race.
“I gotta say, this bronze medal feels like a gold medal,” said Elija Godwin, who ran the first leg.
All three of Felix’s teammates said they were ecstatic at the opportunity to race alongside Felix.
“There is no single story to describe what she did in this sport that made her iconic,” Norwood said. “For us to come out and compete with her, it’s a blessing to have that opportunity.”
Even though the opportunity didn’t result in a gold medal, the bronze medal fulfilled Felix’s goal.
“I have a lot of moments that mean a lot to me,” Felix said. “To be able to come here, in front of a home crowd, it was something throughout my whole career that I always wanted.”
Editor’s Note: Following the publication of this piece, Allyson Felix made a surprise return to race the heats of the 4×400 meter relay at the Oregon22 World Championships, eventually resulting in a gold medal for Team USA
