Allyson Felix retires from track career that brought joy, heartbreak

Allyson Felix hopes she will be remembered as a fierce competitor. Those who followed her career over the last two decades, since the pre-Facebook era, know that to be true.

“It’s broken my heart many times, but I’ve also had many really joyous moments,” Felix said before she is expected to race at a full-fledged meet for the last time Friday in the mixed-gender 4x400m relay at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon. “I’m going to miss it so much.”

Felix’s career is defined not just by victories (29 Olympic or world outdoor championships medals, with 20 golds), but also how she won: returning from defeats, injuries and then a life-threatening pregnancy to always get back on the top step of podiums.

That in mind, a look back at the defining races of Felix’s career:

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Felix, an 18-year-old who had turned pro out of high school, was runner-up to Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown to start what would become a rivalry that spanned three Olympics. Felix became the youngest Olympic medalist in an individual track race in 24 years. Felix, who didn’t take a victory lap (perhaps out of inexperience), said that night in Greece, “When I was coming down the stretch, it was a lot of heart and giving it all I had. … I feel I took a lot away from it. This is just a start for me.”

The first teenager to win an individual world title in the sprints, Felix overtook Frenchwoman Christine Arron in the finishing straight by showing what became a trademark controlled form in the closing meters. She won after switching coaches from Pat Connolly to Bobby Kersee following the Athens Games. Kersee has coached her ever since and has coached an Olympic gold medalist in every women’s sprint