At the end of her last sprint, she was passed by another runner. Instead of gold, the bronze medal was awarded.
For 15 seconds Friday night at the world championships, Allyson Felix was sprinting alone in the sun, cruising far ahead of the field. Her arms were pumping and her knees were kicking as if they belonged to her.
She is 36 years old. It was no big deal that Marileidy Paulino of the winning Dominican Republic team eventually caught her. No shame that the U.S. finished third behind the Netherlands and Germany, saving the rest of its star power for the next nine days.
It was equal to Felix's 19th medal at the world championships. She will end her career with at least 30 at her sport's biggest events.
Like the end of Felix's career, her last big night on the track was about more than the race. A once-in-a-lifetime athlete who came onto the scene as a shy teenager and left as an outspoken advocate for women and mothers both in and out of sports was celebrated.
The search engine got involved. A search of her name Friday night brought up all her credentials, with the animation of her sprinting across the computer screen followed by the words "Olympian". There is a mother. Is there an advocate?
All part of a fitting finale for the mother of 3-year-old Cammy, who said she's looking forward to being normal, focusing on her family, and not having to get up for workouts with her famed taskmaster of a coach.
Felix failed to qualify for the worlds in an individual race, so he was entered in the mixed relay. The two-thirds full house at the first world championships to be held in the US cheered as loudly as they had all night when her name was announced.
She waited for her last lap after jumping around after the start.
Felix was running virtually alone in the sun-splashed back stretch after the first 200 meters of her final lap when American Elijah Godwin passed her the baton. She was caught by Paulino after rounding her last turn.
Femke Bol made a huge late charge to give The Netherlands the silver medal after the Dominican's Fiordaliza CoFil overtook American Kennedy Simon on the anchor. The Dominican Republic won the game with a margin of 0.08 seconds.
The US finished in 3:10.16 Felix ran her last 400 meters in 50.15 seconds. It's nowhere near the 47.72-second split she ran in a gold medal 4x400 at worlds in 2015, but that was not the point.
The road she climbed after an emergency C-section eight weeks before her due date left her and her husband in the hospital, and left Felix thinking more about making it out than ever running again.
There were heats in the men's 100 on the opening day.
Last year's Olympic silver medal winner, American Fred Kerley, finished his race in 9.79 seconds -- a blazing-fast time for a preliminary round that was only 0.03 off his season high and was 0.01 faster than Italian Marcel Jacobs' victory in Tokyo.
All the other big names advanced, including Christian Coleman, who is defending his world title after missing the Olympics because of a suspension related to missed drug tests.
He was also advanced. Dozens of athletes and coaches trying to make it to America have been impacted by visa issues after the world's seventh-ranked sprinter arrived in Eugene only about three hours before race time.
Defending long jump champ Tajay Gayle of Jamaica was one of the few surprises when he failed to make it out of the first round.
Defending world champion Joe Kovacs and world-record holder Ryan Crouser both advanced to the next round.
The meet's first medals came in the 20-kilometer race walk, wherePeru's first-ever medal at the worlds was won byKimberlyGarcia. The man from Japan successfully defended his title.
Everyone at the field will remember the last medals.
Felix smiled widely as World athletics president Sebastian Coe hung the medal around her neck and Douglas Emhoff shook her hand.
The Dominican Republic's national anthem was playing. After exiting through the ramp, she left the stage for the last time.
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