Allyson Felix sports discipline competed in 200 metres
Junior career
Allyson Felix attended Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills, California, where she was nicknamed "Chicken Legs" by her teammates, because the five-foot-six, 125-pound sprinter's body had skinny legs despite her strength. Her slightness belied her speed on the track and strength in the gym, as she could deadlift at least 270 pounds while still in high school. Felix credits much of her early success to her high school sprint coach, Jonathan Patton.
Felix began to discover her athletic talents after she tried out for track in the ninth grade. Just ten weeks after that first tryout, she finished seventh in the 200 meters at the CIF California State Meet. In the coming seasons, she became a five-time winner at the meet. In 2001, at the Debrecan World Youth Championships, Felix achieved her first international title in the 100 meters. In 2003, she was named the national girls' "High School Athlete of the Year" by Track and Field News. As a senior, Felix finished second in the 200 meters at the US Indoor Track & Field Championships. A few months later, in front of 50,000 fans in Mexico City, she ran 22.11 seconds, the fastest in history for a high school girl, though it could not count as a world junior record because there was no drug testing at the meet.Felix graduated high school in 2003, making headlines by forgoing college eligibility to sign a professional contract with Adidas via her agent Nik Visger. Adidas paid her an undisclosed sum and picked up her college tuition at the University of Southern California. She graduated with a degree in elementary education.Professional
Early career
At the 2003 U.S. national championships, the seventeen-year-old phenomenon finished second in the 200 meters sprint with a time of 22.59 seconds, earning her spot to the 2003 Paris World Championships. In the quarter-finals of the 200 meters in Paris, Felix finished sixth in 23.33 seconds.
At the age of 18, Felix earned an Olympic silver medal in the 200 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, behind Veronica Campbell of Jamaica; in doing so, she set a world junior record over 200 meters with her time of 22.18 seconds. After leaving Athens, Felix and her coach Pat Connolly, who also guided the 1984 Olympic 100 meters champion Evelyn Ashford, parted ways as Connolly moved back to Virginia and Felix cited difficulties training alone. The young sprinter then sought the tutelage of controversial sprint coach Bob Kersee, whom she would train under for the next 18 years.Nineteen-year-old Felix became the youngest world champion ever in the 200 meters at the 2005 Helsinki World Championships and then successfully defended her world title in Osaka two years later. At the 2007 Osaka World Championships, Felix caught Jamaican rival, Veronica Campbell, on the bend and surged down the straightaway to finish in 21.81 seconds, dipping under the 22-second barrier for the first time in her career. After the final, Felix stated in the post-race interview: "I feel so good. I am so excited. I have been waiting for so long to run such a time, to run under 22 seconds. It has not been an easy road, but finally, I managed." At that time, she addressed her future, saying, "My next goal is not the world record, but gold in Beijing. I want to take it step-by-step. I might consider doing both – the 200 and the 400 meters – there." Days later, after partaking in the winning U.S. 4 × 100 meters relay and also the 4 × 400 meters relay, in which she unofficially split 48.01 seconds on the second leg,  Felix became only the second female athlete, after Marita Koch in 1983, to win three gold medals at a single IAAF World Championships in Athletics.2008–09
Felix qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics at the 2008 Olympic trials by winning the 200 meters sprint in 21.82 seconds, but narrowly missed qualifying for the 100 meters sprint. In the Olympic 200 meter final, despite running her season's best time in the 200 meters at 21.93 seconds, she again finished second to Campbell, who ran 21.74 seconds, the best time of the decade, to win the gold medal. Felix avenged her disappointing loss by regaining the lead for the U.S. women's 4 × 400 meters relay team during her 48.55-second leg, allowing Team USA to eventually win and earning her first Olympic gold medal.2010–11
In 2010, Felix focused on running more 400-meter races. Running the 200 meters and the 400 meters, she became the first person ever to win two IAAF Diamond League trophies in the same year. She continued her dominance by winning 21 out of 22 races, only losing to Veronica Campbell-Brown in New York. Felix also became the U.S. 100 meters champion by winning the sprint in 11.27 seconds against a strong −2.5 m/s headwind.At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Felix ran in the 200 and 400 meters, as well as the 4 × 100 and 4 × 400 meters relay races. In the 400-meter event, Felix's best efforts yielded only a second-place finish despite straining down the homestretch to a personal best of 49.59 seconds, 0.03 behind winner Amantle Montsho of Botswana. Montsho later tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine in 2014. In the 200-meter final, Felix finished third in a subpar time of 22.42 seconds due to fatigue. Veronica Campbell-Brown won the gold and Carmelita Jeter won silver. In the relay events, Felix ran the second leg in both the 4 × 100 meters and 4 × 400 meters. Team USA won both events, attaining world-leading times in both finals as Felix added two world championship gold medals to her collection. The 25-year-old American sprinter was the only athlete to leave Daegu with four medals.2014–15
After a nine-month layoff due to a hamstring injury, Felix resumed competition in the 400 meters at the Shanghai Diamond League meet in May 2014, in which she finished fifth with a time of 50.81 seconds. She later competed in the 200 meters at the Prefontaine Classic meet, finishing third with a season's best of 22.44 seconds.
As the winner of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League 200-meter title, Felix received a bye into the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. Obligated to participate in the 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships but not required to run the 200 meters, she opted for the 400 meters.  Felix won the event in 50.19 seconds with a late surge from fourth place at the 300-meter mark, catching Natasha Hastings right before the finish line to earn her ninth U.S. championship title. World number one ranked Francena McCorory and number two Sanya Richards-Ross failed to qualify for the 2015 Beijing World Championships.
The 2015 Beijing World Championships schedule placed the 400-meter final just over an hour after the 200-meter semi-finals, making it virtually impossible to perform to world championship level in both events. As of July 1, Felix held the fastest seed time in both the 400 (0.11 over the fastest competitor) and 200 (0.22 over the fastest competitor), leaving her with a difficult choice as to which event to put her full effort into. Felix eventually chose the 400 meters and later triumphed in the event final with a personal best of 49.26 seconds. She dominated the race from beginning to end, making up the stagger from the start of the gun and never relinquishing her lead to claim the 400 meters title. In doing so, Felix became the first woman to win world titles in the 200 meters and the 400 meters. Additionally, she has now won the most world championship gold medals, and most overall world championship medals, out of any American track and field athlete. She continued to  add to her medal collection by earning silver medals in both the 4 × 100 meters relay and 4 × 400 meters relay. In the latter race, Felix received the baton with a significant deficit to the leading Jamaican team, prompting her to sprint a historic split time of 47.72 seconds to regain the lead for the American women before the final handoff. This was the fastest 4 × 400 meters split ever recorded by an American woman and third-fastest 4 × 400 meters split ever by any female athlete, after Jarmila Kratochvílová and Marita Koch. Running the final leg, Francena McCorory failed to hold onto the lead and was overtaken by Novlene Williams-Mills in the final meters.Still dealing with the physical repercussions from the accident, Felix raced the 200 meters and 400 meters anyway at the 2016 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, attempting to fulfill her goal of completing a 200–400 meters double victory at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In the 400 meters trials final, she surged from the middle of the pack down the homestretch and overtook the field in the final meters, recording a world-leading time of 49.68 seconds. Then, in the 200 meters final, the lack of speed work due to injury eventually caught up with her as she was narrowly edged out by Jenna Prandini, who dove across the finish line to secure the third and final spot on the team, beating Felix by 0.01 seconds (22.53 to 22.54 seconds). Felix took the rest of July and early part of August off to give her ankle more time to heal while she continued preparations for the Olympics.
At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Felix bumped her overall Olympic haul to nine overall medals: six golds and three silvers, tying Jamaican legend Merlene Ottey's record for the most Olympic medals won by a female track and field athlete, although most of Ottey's medal collection consists of individual medals. Felix's hope of winning the 400 meters Olympic gold medal came up short after she lost by 0.07 to Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, who made a legal but controversial dive across the finish line as Felix was quickly closing the distance. Felix recovered from the disappointing performance to win two golds with the U.S. 4 × 100 meters and 4 × 400 meters relay teams. The 4 × 100 meters relay win drew much controversy, as Team USA was initially disqualified in their semi-final run after Felix had dropped the baton during the handoff attempt to English Gardner. However, replays showed that the Brazilian sprinter in the neighboring lane swung her arm and accidentally impeded Felix right before the handoff, causing her to lose her balance. After the appeal was accepted, Team USA was awarded a solo run the next day. With a successful time trial, Felix and her teammates advanced to the final, where they won in 41.01 seconds, the second-fastest 4 × 100 meters relay time in history.The following year, during the 2017 World Championships in London, Felix added three more medals to her collection, cementing her position as the most decorated athlete in IAAF World Championships history. Felix equaled Merlene Ottey's and Usain Bolt's 14 medal tally by winning a bronze medal in the 400-meter final with a time of 50.08 seconds. She admitted that the result was disappointing, as she was hoping to defend her title in the discipline. Just a month prior to the championships, Felix had won the London's Diamond League meet held at the same track with a world-leading time of 49.65 seconds. Felix earned two additional gold medals by partaking in the 4 × 100 relay and also the 4 × 400 meters relay, in which she ran a 48.7-second leg, bringing her tally up to 16 world championship medals.
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