Allyson Felix eyes relay pool in LA28 Olympic comeback bid

Allyson Felix eyes relay pool in LA28 Olympic comeback bid

Allyson Felix hopes to make a relay pool for the LA28 Olympics at age 42 after announcing she is unretiring in a bid for a sixth Games.

"My ideal situation would be to try to make the relay pool for maybe the mixed 4x400m relay," she said on TODAY on Thursday. "It's a tall task to get back to that level, but I'm excited to really push for it."

Felix, whose 11 Olympic track and field medals are second-most in history, retired in 2022.

She announced comeback plans last week, preparing to return to competition in 2027 in a build up to the 2028 Olympics that will be in her hometown.

"If it wasn't LA, I wouldn't be as curious," she said. "I just can't imagine not going for it with it being in my hometown. I'm so excited for everyone to experience the Olympics, but it would be really special to be walking in Opening Ceremonies."

For the last two Olympics, USA Track and Field chose athletes for the 4x400m relay pool who made the individual 400m final of eight or nine women at the Olympic Trials (the top three made the team in the individual 400m).

For Paris 2024, the top six women, plus ninth-place Shamier Little made the relay pool. For Tokyo 2020, the top eight women made the pool.

USATF has not posted 2028 Olympic selection procedures yet.

Felix is already the oldest American to run in an Olympic relay, doing so as part of the gold-medal-winning women's 4x400m at the Tokyo Games at age 35.

"It's a bit scary," she said of trying to make it at 42. "But also there's a bit of peace there, because there's nothing to prove. It's just about testing the limits, kind of an experiment of what's still left there. So I do feel this calmness going into it that, either way, I think it's just about the success of courage, of going for it."