The most decorated female track-and-field Olympian in history is unretiring — and she’s got the 2028 Los Angeles Games in her sights.
Four years ago, Allyson Felix crossed the finish line at the 2022 World Championships and walked away from the sport as its greatest. Eleven Olympic medals. Seven golds. A legacy that needed no sequel. And yet — on Monday, April 27, 2026 — she announced to the world that retirement is over.
Felix made the announcement in a first-person interview with TIME magazine, confirming what many in the track world had dared to whisper: she wants to run at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. In her hometown. In front of a crowd that has never roared for her as a home-country athlete. At age 42.
“So many of us have been told not to do the big, bold thing. And just, why not? Let’s flip it on its head. Let’s go after the thing. Let’s be vulnerable.”
— Allyson Felix, TIME Magazine
The seed of a comeback
The idea didn’t spring from ambition alone — it grew quietly, on a track near her home north of Los Angeles. Felix and her husband, Kenny Ferguson, had been working out together when the thought first took shape: what if? About a year of reflection later, she pulled her brother Wes aside at the Cannes Lions festival last June for a formal, calendar-on-the-books conversation. He knew something big was coming.
She cited athletes like Tom Brady, LeBron James, and Lindsey Vonn as proof that the 40s don’t have to mean the end. For Felix, the mission carries a second dimension beyond competition — she wants to push back against the expectations placed on women once they cross into their fifth decade.
The road back
Felix plans to return to full training in October alongside legendary coach Bobby Kersee, who guided her from 2004 through her final race. She won’t be chasing a full circuit schedule — staying close to her two children, daughter Camryn (7) and son Trey (2), is non-negotiable. Instead, she’ll build deliberately toward the 2028 Olympic Trials.
Oct 2026
Returns to full training with coach Bobby Kersee
2027
Limited competitive appearances on the track circuit
2028
US Olympic Trials — bidding for a spot on Team USA
July 14, 2028
LA28 Opening Ceremony — her ultimate goal to walk in
More than medals
Felix is already deeply woven into the fabric of LA28 — she’s a member of the Organizing Committee Athletes’ Commission and a full IOC member since 2024. She grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from Baptist High School, attended USC, and trained professionally at UCLA. These Games are personal in a way no others could be.
Watching Paris 2024 from the stands stirred something in her. “There were moments where I was like, ‘I miss this feeling,’” she admitted. Now she’s chasing that roar she heard for host-country athletes at every Games she ever competed in — finally, for herself.
If she makes it, Felix would become the first U.S. track and field athlete ever to compete at a sixth Olympics. If she falls short at trials, she’ll still be there in the stands, medal around her neck and children by her side. Either way, she’s already won the framing.
“I would probably be upset at myself if I just didn’t give it a try. However it turns out, I’ll still be there with my kids, hanging out and cheering everybody on.”
— Allyson Felix
When Allyson Felix says a goal needs to feel “scary and exciting” to be worth pursuing, she’s speaking from experience. This one checks both boxes — and the track world is watching.
ABOUT ALLYSON FELIX
Felix, 40, is the most decorated female track-and-field Olympian in history. She won her first Olympic medal at Athens 2004 and her last at Tokyo 2021, where she earned bronze in the 400m. She retired after the 2022 World Championships and has since co-founded Always Alpha, a sports management agency for female athletes, alongside her brother Wes.
