The athlete got the bronze in the mixed 4×400, adding her 19th medal in World Championships, which makes her the most successful in history
MADRID, 16 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The American Allyson Felix said goodbye to professional athletics with the bronze in the 4×400 mixed at the World Championships in Outdoor Athletics in Eugene (Oregon), achieving her 19th world championship medal, closing her 36 on the podium with a long and successful career in the elite.
Despite the fact that she could not climb to the top of the podium in her farewell, with the Dominican Republic (3:09.82) and the Netherlands (3:09.90) ahead, Felix says goodbye to top competition as the most successful athlete in the World Cup history. 13 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals represent the winners of the American in this event.
A somewhat decaffeinated farewell for the defeat against the Dominicans and the Dutch, unable to defend the title achieved in Doha 2019. However, all of Hayward Field and his teammates congratulated Felix on his latest success. And it is that this myth of athletics has been on the podium in all world championships since Helsinki 2005, except in 2013 due to an injury.
17 years between his first and last medal, improving the record of Jesús Ángel García Bragado -from 1993 to 2009-, achieving a medal in eight world championships, one more than the Kenyan Ezekiel Kemboi, athletics legend present on all the podiums from Paris 2003 to Beijing 2015.
In addition, he has 11 Olympic medals -7 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze- adding a total of 30 between World Championships and Games, 18 of them achieved in team events. Felix retires with two current world records, both together, the 4x100m in London 2012 and the mixed 4x400m in Doha 2019. Almost two decades competing and fighting to climb to the top of the podium, a dream career that makes her a myth of athletics and inspiration for future generations.
She will also be remembered for her departure from Nike, her first major sponsor. The athlete published an open letter a year after the birth of her daughter Camrym in 2018 in which she stated that the American company paid her less since she was a mother, the main reason for abandoning the well-known brand and changing it to Athleta. She later launched her own brand of sneakers under the name Shays.
FERDINAND OMANYALA, FROM THE PLANE TO THE SEMIFINALS OF THE 100 METERS
Also on the first day of the World Cup, the Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, African record holder and third fastest man of the year, starred in one of the most notorious cases of the event. The athlete arrived in the United States just hours before competing in his 100-meter series, after having problems with his visa.
Thus, he arrived in Eugene with just the right amount of time, even so he finished his series in third place with a time of 10.10 (-0.3), enough to advance to the semifinals this Sunday.