Slow down, Usain Bolt. Allyson Felix is here.
The Olympic sprinter has just won her 12th gold medal at the World Championships, seeing her surpass the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, for the most gold medals in World Championship history.
And she just happens to be 10 months postpartum.
In November 2018, the US sprinter gave birth at 32 weeks via an emergency C-section to her daughter, Camryn, after complications with preeclampsia. For a month following the premature birth, Felix's time was spent in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
"It's amazing how quickly your priorities change in moments like this. At that point, the only thing I cared about was that my daughter, Camryn, was OK," Felix told ESPN in December last year. "I didn't care if I ever ran track again."
She further expressed concern over whether her body will be able to maintain its power.
"If I come back and I'm just not the same, if I can't make a fifth Olympic team, I'm gonna know that I fought, that I was determined, and that I gave it my absolute all. And if it doesn't end up the way I imagined in my head, it'll be OK."
Of course, she did run again. And clearly, her extreme athleticism has not gone anywhere.
The 33-year-old won gold in the the mixed-gender 4x400m relay team race this week at the World Championships, less than a year after her complicated birth.
