Maybe it clicked when Sydney McLaughlin rounded the final turn in the 400-meter hurdles, sprinting virtually alone, out of breath and still flying down the track. The crowd at Hayward Field stood and gasped at one of the best performances in the voluminous history of track and field—the perfect race, in the perfect place, near the end of 10 ideal days of competition.
If track stood to attract more fans, wading deeper into the mainstream sports consciousness, gaining a larger foothold with the Olympics in Los Angeles only six years away, then wasn’t this exactly what the sport needed? Was this, everything that took place in the first-ever world championships held on U.S. soil, enough?
Maybe it was the grand finale to Allyson Felix’s decorated, medal-heavy sprint career. Or her encore, which began after she retired, with a call she answered while eating chicken wings and drinking a root beer float at a favorite “cheat meal” restaurant in Los Angeles. If this retirement holds longer than a few days, she’ll have 20 world championship medals to hand out at dinner parties or decorate her trophy case.
