Allyson Felix Shares Plans for Final Race at the World Championships After Announcing Retirement

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty

TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 07: Allyson Felix of Team United States competes in the Women' s 4 x 400m Relay Final on day fifteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 07, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Allyson Felixmay soon have the chance to win gold during her last official race ever!

On Saturday, the athlete shared that she will return to the World Championships to race in the women’s 4x400 relay preliminaries after announcing her retirement from the sports last week, according to theAssociated Press.

“The coaches asked if I was available and there was no way I’d turn the team down,” she said in a statement to the outlet.

Felix, 36, will participate in the relay, which will then see its final held on Sunday to conclude the world championships.

David Ramos/Getty

TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 06: Allyson Felix of Team USA reacts after winning the bronze medal in the Women’s 400m Final on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 06, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Last Friday, the sprinter announcedshe was officially retiringfrom the track after helping the United States win bronze at the World Track and Field Championships.

“I felt the love,” Felix told reporters after the race, which was held in the U.S. for the first time in Eugene, Oregon, according toESPN. “And I felt joy running tonight.”

The sports star previously compared her bronze win — alongside relay teammates Elija Godwin, Vernon Norwood and Kennedy Simon — to the one she earned in the women’s 400 at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

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“It’s a similar emotion,” she said, per theWashington Post.

“The last couple years, I’ve stepped outside of the clock, the medals,” the mom to 3-year-old daughter Camryn explained.“I never would have imagined that that would have been a place I would come to. But I have. It’s being a representation for women, mothers, and I really felt that. It was an emotional day. I felt it all over from people telling me and messages. I feel really proud tonight. I feel fulfilled.”

Felixfirst announced her plans to retire in Aprilwith an Instagram post telling fans she’d given the sport everything she had.

“As a little girl they called chicken legs, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I’d have a career like this,” Felix wrote at the time. “I have so much gratitude for this sport that has changed my life. I have given everything I have to running and for the first time I’m not sure if I have anything left to give.”

Felix also said she was dedicating her final season to “women” and her daughterCamryn, whom she welcomed in 2018 with her husband, Kenneth Ferguson.

source: people.com