US track star Allyson Felix is getting more specific about what her Olympics return might look like.
After announcing plans to come out of retirement and pursue a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, Felix says her ideal path back would likely center around Team USA's relay pool rather than an individual event.
“My ideal situation would be to try to make the relay pool for maybe the mixed 4x400m relay,” Felix said Thursday on TODAY. “It’s a tall task to get back to that level, but I’m excited to really push for it.”
After retiring in 2022, Felix announced last month that she plans to resume full training in October with longtime coach Bobby Kersee as she prepares for what could be her sixth Summer Games.
The 2028 Olympics hold special significance for Felix, as they'll take place in her hometown of Los Angeles.
“If it wasn’t LA, I wouldn’t be as curious,” she said. “I just can’t imagine not going for it with it being in my hometown.”
Felix won 11 medals across five Olympics — including seven golds — making her one of history's most decorated track and field athletes.
If she qualifies for LA28 at age 42, she would become the first US track and field athlete to reach six Olympics.
However, the comeback won't be easy.
To make the relay pool, Felix would likely need a strong US Olympic trials showing, where spots traditionally go to athletes who reach the 400-meter final. USATF has not yet announced official qualification procedures for the 2028 Games.
Still, the track icon says she's at peace with the challenge ahead.
“There’s nothing to prove,” she added. “It’s just about testing the limits... Either way, I think it’s just about the success of courage, of going for it.”
Alysha Newman has been handed a 20-month suspension after missing multiple anti-doping controls, according to the Athletics Integrity Unit.
The Canadian pole vaulter — who won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics — is responsible for three "whereabouts" failures within a 12-month span. This qualifies as an anti-doping violation under global athletics rules.
In a post on Instagram, Newman shared a message alongside a photo celebrating her Olympic bronze medal.
“You can bind up my leg, but not even Zeus has the power to break my freedom of choice — Epictetus,” Newman wrote.
Under international anti-doping rules, athletes must maintain a daily one-hour period for surprise testing.
According to the AIU, Newman missed one test in February and two in August. During the third incident, officials said Newman told a doping control officer she had to leave to film a television game show.
After the third violation in February 2026, Newman subsequently received a provisional suspension.
“The Athlete has accepted the above Consequences for her Anti-Doping Rule Violation and has expressly waived her right to have those Consequences determined by the Disciplinary Tribunal at a hearing,” the AIU said in a statement.
Newman's ban runs through August 2027.
The standard penalty for whereabouts violations is typically two years. However, investigators reduced the suspension after accepting that Newman has decided to end her pole vaulting career. The AIU described that as a "sufficiently unique/exceptional factor" in determining the sanction.
The 31-year-old last competed in Diamond League events in Qatar and Morocco in 2025. However, she became one of Canada's most recognizable track and field athletes during the Paris Olympics, where her 4.85 meter-vault set a national record. She additionally became the first Canadian woman to medal in Olympic pole vault.
US track champion Abby Steiner is taking her fight into court, suing Puma and the Mercedes Formula 1 team after alleging the companies' shoe design contributed to injuries that derailed her competitive career.
Filed April 24th in Massachusetts Superior Court, the suit claims the shoes and spikes were “defective” and “unsafe," saying the design increased risk factors for bone stress injuries, foot injuries, and additional strain.
Because Mercedes was involved in the design and sale of Puma footwear referenced in the complaint, it is also named in the lawsuit.
Steiner, an NCAA champion at Kentucky and two-time world champion relay gold medalist, emerged as a rising names in US track during her breakout 2022 season. She signed with Puma that July in a deal widely reported to be worth some $2 million.
While Steiner helped the US win gold in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays at the 2022 World Championships, the lawsuit says the trouble began after she started wearing Puma footwear in September of that year.
According to the complaint, those injuries led to multiple surgeries and years of rehabilitation between 2023 and 2025, subsequently ending her career and keeping her from competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Saying she suffered “severe and permanent injuries," Steiner is seeking financial damages tied to lost sponsorships, medical expenses, and a decreased quality of life.
Court records currently show no defendants have filed a response or attorney appearance with the court. A response is due by August 24th.
40-year-old Allyson Felix announced a stunning comeback Monday, telling TIME Magazine she plans to compete at the 2028 LA Olympics at age 42 — four years after retiring from track and field.
The most decorated women's sports athlete in Olympic track and field history said she wants to prove women over 40 can still chase bold dreams. Felix drew inspiration from athletes like Tom Brady, LeBron James, and Lindsey Vonn, as all excelled past 40.
"So many of us have been told not to do the big, bold thing," Felix said. "You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let's flip it on its head."
Allyson Felix will begin training with legendary coach Bobby Kersee in October, targeting a competitive return in 2027 via certified events.
No US sprinter has ever reached an Olympics in their 40s.
Felix won 11 Olympic medals across five Summer Games — seven gold, three silver, and one bronze. She burst onto the scene at age 18 in Athens, winning silver in the 200 meters. She later dominated the field in Beijing, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo before hanging it up in 2022.
Her best performance came in London 2012, where Felix swept gold in the 200 meters, 4x100-meter relay, and 4x400-meter relay.
Since retiring, Allyson Felix joined the IOC's Athletes' Commission and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee's Board of Directors. She subsequently earned induction into the US Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2025.
Felix also became an outspoken advocate for mothers in sports, fighting for better treatment for pregnant athletes and working mothers.
Even if she doesn't make the 2028 team, Felix said she'll attend the Games with her children, cheering on Team USA from the stands.
Sha'Carri Richardson won Australia's Stawell Gift on Monday, charging from scratch to take the title in one of the event's most noteworthy finishes.
The US sprinter ran the 120-meter handicap race in 13.15 seconds, overcoming a nine-meter deficit to catch the field late and pull away for the win.
The result places Richardson among a small group of athletes to win the race from scratch — a rare feat in an event defined by staggered starts.
The decorated sprinter closed the gap decisively in the final stretch, making her move around the 90-meter mark before separating from the field. After a near miss in the semifinal earlier in the day, she adjusted her approach in the final.
"Just make sure I'm patient that first 10-meters like my coach today told me, and just executing the rest," Richardson told a local TV broadcast afterwards. "I think I realized I was going to win right past 90."
The Stawell Gift, first held in 1878, is one of track and field's most unique events, run on a grass surface with handicaps rather than a traditional straight start.
Richardson entered the race as one of the fastest women in the world, with Olympic and world championship medals in the 100-meter dash. At 26, she becomes just the third woman to win the Stawell Gift from scratch, while also earning $40,000 AUD in prize money — about $27,500 USD.
The victory capped a strong showing across the weekend. Richardson advanced out of the semifinals by just 0.007 seconds before delivering a cleaner, controlled finish in the final.
Now, the focus shifts to the sport's outdoor swing. Richardson's performance in Australia adds an early result as she builds toward major international competitions later this year.
Ethiopia's Fotyen Tesfay ran the second-fastest women's marathon in history on Saturday, making her Zurich Barcelona Marathon debut with a time of 2:10:53.
The 28-year-old finished just 57 seconds from Ruth Chepngetich's world record of 2:09:56, set in Chicago in 2024. Tesfay also shattered the Ethiopian record and delivered the fastest women's marathon debut ever recorded.
Tesfay won the Barcelona race by nearly eight minutes over Kenya's Joan Jepkosgei Kiplimo's second-place time of 2:18:42. Ethiopia's Zeineba Yimer placed third with 2:18:49.
The performance marks a remarkable transition to the marathon for Tesfay, who entered the race as the third-fastest women's half marathon runner in history. She finished seventh in the 10,000 meters at the Paris 2024 Olympics and eighth at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.
Tesfay targeted Chepngetich's world record throughout the race, hitting the halfway mark in 1:05:05, reaching 30 kilometers in 1:32:00, and subsequently passing 40 kilometers in 2:03:31.
"My plan was to attack the world record but today there was a lot of wind," Tesfay said through an interpreter.
"I was not able to push in the last part of the race. Today I did not succeed, but in the next marathon I would like to try for the world record."
The Barcelona Marathon served as a World Athletics Elite Label road race. Tesfay's breakthrough performance positions her as a major threat to Chepngetich's world record in future marathons.
2026 Barcelona Marathon Women's Leading Results
1. Fotyen Tesfay (ETH) 2:10:51
2. Joan Jepkosgei Kiplimo (KEN) 2:18:42
3. Zeineba Yimer (ETH) 2:18:49
4. Chaltu Chimdesa Kumsa (ETH) 2:23:32
5. Yalganesh Eskamech Gedefa (ETH) 2:24:05
Every Wednesday in February, JWS celebrates Black History Month by spotlighting a prominent Black figure in women's sports history.
Lauryn Williams stands out on the Olympic stage, retiring as one of just six athletes in the world — and the first-ever US woman — to medal at both the Summer and the Winter Games.
Born in 1983, the Pennsylvania product started her historic career as a sprinter on the track and field team at the University of Miami, qualifying for her first Olympics within weeks of graduating in 2004 — before going on to take silver in the 100-meter dash in Athens.
After failing to medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, Williams stepped away from competing for a year, returning to the track in 2011 and earning her first Olympic gold medal in 2012 as part of Team USA's 4×100-meter team in London.
The three-time World Champion sprint star then traded one track for another in the fall of 2013, pivoting to bobsledding where her speed took her to the highest echelon of the cold-weather sport.
Less than 18 months after last medaling in the Summer Games, Williams qualified to represent the USA in the two-woman bobsled on the Winter Olympics' stage, traveling to the 2014 Sochi Games where she brought home silver alongside US bobsled icon Elana Meyers Taylor.
Skyrocketing from complete bobsled novice to the Olympic podium in just six months, Williams made history 12 years ago — and to date, the 42-year-old remains the only US woman to eve earn both Summer and Winter Olympic hardware.
"Anytime I step on any track — ice track, regular track, any kind of track — my goal is to win," Williams said after her Sochi victory. "So I'm not surprised at all."
Nikki Hiltz achieved a career milestone Sunday by winning the prestigious Wanamaker Mile at the 118th Millrose Games held New York's Nike Track & Field Center.
Hiltz, 31, crossed the finish line with a world-leading and personal-best time of 4:19:64. The California native and world No. 4 in the 1,500-meter captured the coveted Millrose Games title after several previous attempts.
Following the victory, Hiltz called winning the Wanamaker Mile a bucket-list accomplishment. The eight-time consecutive US champion described the final lap as a celebration after years of pursuit.
“We don’t have a lot of things in our sport where your name is etched onto something,” they told the NBC Sports broadcast. “So no matter what happens in my career, my name’s never getting off that trophy, and that’s a really good feeling.”
Nikki Hiltz is at the top of their running game in 2026
Hiltz, who identifies as transgender and non-binary, wore a pink one-piece speed suit and neon orange racing spikes. The Lululemon-sponsored athlete was recently selected for induction into the LGBTQ Sports Hall of Fame.
The race featured intense competition as Hiltz surged to the lead at the midway point. 2024 Olympics silver medalist Jessica Hull stayed close, with Hiltz subsequently pulling away from the Australian in the last 30 meters.
After crossing the finish line, the 2024 Paris Olympian celebrated with the crowd, giving high-fives and encouraging louder cheers. The champion formed a heart with their hands, blew a kiss, and received flowers along with the winner's trophy.
Hull finished second with a time of 4:20.11, while Poland's Klaudia Kazimierska took third with 4:21.36. Australian Linden Hall placed fourth with a personal-best 4:21.45, while Kenya's Susan Ejore-Sanders rounded out the top five with 4:22.23.
US runner Sinclaire Johnson — who surpassed Nikki Hiltz as the current US mile record-holder last July — finished 10th.
US runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has done it again, winning the Women's World Athlete of the Year for the second time at the 2025 World Athletics Awards on Sunday.
In a pivot from her historic 400-meter hurdles dominance, McLaughlin-Levrone chose to master its flat counterpart this year, racing to an undefeated season in the 400-meter flat event in 2025.
"For me, 2025 was a year of stepping outside of the comfort zone and pushing the bounds of what was mentally and physically possible," the four-time US Olympic gold medalist said in a Sunday press release. "I want to continue pushing boundaries in 2026."
Already a winner of the 2018 World Athletics Rising Star Award, McLaughlin-Levrone snagged her first Women's World Athlete of the Year honor in 2022 following a first-ever individual world title in her signature 400-meter hurdles.
This year, the 26-year-old claimed a second individual world trophy in record-breaking fashion, winning the 400-meter with a Championships and North American record-shattering time of 47.78 seconds — the second-fastest of all time — at September's 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
The victory cemented her as the first athlete to claim world titles in both the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter flat, ultimately earning her Sunday's World Athlete of the Year honor.
"The culmination of the season in Tokyo was a really special moment. I'm so thankful for everyone who supported, watched, voted, and who was there throughout this whole process," McLaughlin-Levrone added.
US sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone blew past the competition this week, becoming the first women's track athlete to run a sub-48 second 400-meter dash in almost 40 years on Thursday, when she won the event final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist clocked a blistering time of 47.78 seconds, breaking her own US record en route to becoming the new world champion.
Notably, Dominican sprinter Marileidy Paulino — the 400-meter gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics — crossed Thursday's finish line right on McLaughlin-Levrone's heels, joining the US winner in breaking the near-impossible 48-second barrier with a time of 47.98 seconds.
"You don't run something like that without amazing women pushing you to it," said McLaughlin-Levrone afterwards, crediting the impact of the other contenders on her own historic pace.
McLaughlin-Levrone's new time is now the second fastest in the sport's history, trailing only the 1985 world record of 47.60 seconds set by East Germany's Marita Koch.
Thursday's win also marked the 26-year-old's first-ever major international 400-meter flat title after historically dominating the 400-meter hurdles, making McLaughlin-Levrone the only athlete to hold world titles in both races.
"I felt that somebody was going to have to run 47-something to win this," Bobby Kersee, the sprinter's longtime coach, told The AP. "She trained for it. She took on the challenge, took on the risk. She's just an amazing athlete that I can have no complaints about."