Allyson Felix stellar career in numbers

The American is the World Athletics Championships GOAT, having out-performed any other man or woman to have competed at Worlds. As she prepares for her final Worlds appearance in 2022, take a look back at her incredible career in numbers.

The athletics legend is an 11-time Olympic medallist and the most successful American track and field athlete in history as she prepares for one final farewell to international competition at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

Felix has already said 2022 will be her final season competing, and she will leave competitive track and field with at least one title secure – the World Championships' greatest of all time. Heading into the 2022 event in Eugene, Oregon, from 15–24 July, the 36-year-old has 13 gold and 18 total career medals from Worlds – both more than any other athlete, man or woman.

Here are some of the incredible numbers from Felix's remarkable career.

Allyson Felix competed at five different Olympic Games, making her debut as an 18-year-old at Athens 2004. She put the world on alert to her ability by taking silver in the 200m, in just her second major Championships meet. An impressive feat, given Felix was the youngest member of the U.S. track and field squad in Athens.

After switching coaches following the Games in Greece, Felix continued to go from strength to strength. While she repeated on the second step of the 200m podium four years later in Beijing, she also clinched her first Olympic title as a member of the U.S. 4x400m relay team – one of seven golds she would go on to win.

London 2012 saw Felix's only individual success at the Olympic Games as she finally clinched the women's 200m title. London was also her most successful Olympic Games – she won three gold medals from her three events, also securing double relay gold to add to her individual triumph.

Relays continued to produce success for Felix, who was part of both gold-medal teams at Rio 2016 in addition to winning individual silver in the 400m.

It was Tokyo 2020 that would prove to be truly history-making for Felix. Her final individual medal, a bronze in the 400m, made her the most successful female track and field athlete in Olympic history.

And one final gold medal, with the women's 4x400m relay, saw her overtake Carl Lewis as the American with the most Olympic track and field medals.

In five Olympic Games, Felix won 11 medals from 12 finals – only missing out in the women's 100m final at London 2012, in which she finished fifth.

If Felix's Olympic achievements are impressive, being the undisputed greatest track and field athlete in World Championships history may just surpass that.

Her long love affair with the Worlds began in 2003 as a 17-year-old, when she made the quarter-finals of the women's 200m. While she didn't make it beyond that, it was to be just the start. Felix's next Worlds outing in Helsinki in 2005 produced the first of four individual World titles as she claimed victory in the 200m. It was a title she retained in 2007, when she also won both relays, and in 2009, when she ran in the 4x400m relay.

Much like at the Olympics, relays proved most successful for Felix, although she did also claim an individual 400m world title in Beijing in 2015 in 49.26, which stands as her personal best to this day.

Heading into the 2017 Worlds in London, Felix sat behind both Usain Bolt and Merlene Ottey, having won 13 medals to their 14. Two golds and a bronze therefore made her not only the most-medalled woman in Worlds history, but gave her the outright record, man or woman.

Two further gold medals in Doha in 2019 – in the mixed relay and as part of the women's 4x400m heats – took her past Bolt's total of 11 gold medals to 13, cementing her position at the very top when both metrics are considered.

Up to and including the 2019 World Championships, Felix raced in a total of 17 World Championships finals, picking up a medal in every single one. Her 18th medal came from the women's 4x400m in Doha, where although she did not race in the final, she was still a part of the gold-medal-winning team in the heats.

Felix's list of honours is a long one. Aside from her many Olympic and World Championships medals, Felix also won a World Indoor Championships title, five World Athletics Final medals, 24 Diamond League or Golden League meeting races, and a Pan-American Games bronze. And she picked up multiple records along the way.

When Felix won silver at Athens 2004, her time of 22.18 was a new world junior record – these days called a world under-20 record after a renaming of World Athletics' age categories. She had actually run faster the year before, going 22.11 at a meet in Mexico City, but that mark was never ratified as there were no proper anti-doping procedures in place.

Felix also set two world records, both of which are still extant. When the Americans won women's 4x100m gold at London 2012, Felix ran the second leg of the relay as the team crossed in a blistering 40.82 seconds. That mark, which shattered the Olympic and world records, remains unbroken.

Her other world record came in 2019 at the World Championships in Doha as part of the mixed 4x400m relay. That time of 3:09.34 has yet to be broken, and Felix and her teammates may well have it in their very sights at Oregon22.

As she prepares to bow out, it's worth remembering that Allyson Felix, even through all the accolades, times, and medals, is more than just a track athlete.

Aside from her accomplishments on the track, Felix has also made an impact away from it, speaking out for better conditions for athlete mothers.