TOKYO, Japan — In a story fit for Hollywood, five-time Olympian Allyson Felix concluded her illustrious Olympic career Saturday in Tokyo by propelling a dream-team United States women's 4x400m relay squad to its seventh straight gold, claiming her 11th medal to surpass Carl Lewis as the most decorated U.S. Olympic track and field athlete of all time.
Thirteen years after making her Olympic debut, the 35-year-old mother won her seventh gold medal in the same event she won her first – running the same leg – alongside two of the sport's youngest superstars.
Sydney McLaughlin, 400m hurdles gold medalist and world record-holder, led off with a 49-second leg in lane seven to give the U.S. an early lead.
Felix, leg two, broke to the inside and held the gap, passing off to 400m hurdles silver medalist and reigning world champion Dalilah Muhammad, who shot off like a rocket. Athing Mu, 800m gold medalist and 400m collegiate record-holder, anchored the quartet home for gold, splitting a blistering 48.3.
The group finished in 3:16.85, No. 5 all-time and the fastest clocking in the event since 1993.
Felix, an L.A. native who trained in Arizona multiple times, had already made history just one day prior after winning bronze in the women's 400m and broke a tie with Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey, to become the most decorated female track athlete in the history of the Olympics.
Felix came to Arizona to train on multiple occasions, at one point staying for a month with her two-year-old daughter, as open tracks were hard to find in L.A. during the pandemic, she said.
The five-time Olympian has medaled at each of the Games she's competed in, winning silver in the 2004 Olympics, gold and silver in 2008, three golds in 2012, and two golds and one silver in 2016.
Felix has also won 19 medals, 14 golds, 3 silvers, 2 bronzes, in world championship races.
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