Allyson Felix ran her fastest 400m since 2017 in her first time racing the distance since 2019 on Tuesday.
Felix, a 35-year-old bidding for her fifth Olympics (and first as a mom), won in 50.88 seconds in swirling winds at the USATF Open in Prairie View, Texas.
Felix is expected to race both the 200m and 400m at next month’s Olympic Trials. The field in Prairie View did not include the highest-ranked American sprinters.
Felix clocked her fastest 400m since she had daughter Camryn on Nov. 28, 2018, though she split faster times as part of relays at worlds in 2019. She ranks 13th in the U.S. since the start of 2019 and seventh this year by best 400m times, according to World Athletics.
At least the top six women at Olympic Trials are expected to be named to the Olympic team -- the top three for the individual 400m and more for the women’s 4x400m relay and the mixed-gender 4x400m.
Felix finished sixth in 51.94 at the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships, her first meet after childbirth, to make the 2019 World team in the relay pool.
In the men’s 400m on Tuesday, world champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas fell to the track while straining in the final meters. Gardiner was helped up, stood on his own, then was carried into the infield by a man. A man worked on Gardiner’s right ankle area.
The track and field season continues Wednesday with the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic, where new U.S. sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson is entered in the 200m.
On Sunday, Richardson is entered in the 100m with the last two Olympic champions, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, at the Diamond League season opener in Gateshead, Great Britain. Also Sunday, Noah Lyles, Wayde van Niekerk and Grant Holloway headline the Boost Boston Games on NBC from 4:30-6 p.m. ET.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!