The men, Olympic and World champions, she inspired as boys, the kids who didn’t want to be like Mike but instead wanted to run like Allyson.

The mothers and grandmothers and daughters Felix gave voice to.

All of them following her through one last glorious night.

The opening night of the World Championships at Hayward Field on Friday, the first Worlds ever held on U.S. soil, was a celebration of Felix and an athlete who has shined in this meet like no other.

With a bronze medal in the mixed 4x400-meter relay, Felix in her final race in a major competition further solidified her status as the most decorated athlete in World Championships history.

“This is really special for me,” Felix said. “This is more than I ever imagined. I’ve had a lot of high moments, low moments and everything in between, and it’s really special to end here tonight. It was really touching. All day long, it’s been emotional. To have an impact on this sport is really special, it means a lot to me.”

Felix, competing in this meet for the ninth time, clinched her 19 Worlds medal. Thirteen of those medals have been gold.

With a women’s 4x400 gold and 400 bronze at last summer Tokyo Olympics, Felix surpassed Carl Lewis for the most Olympic medals for a Team USA track and field athlete–11, seven of them gold.But Felix’s appeal was always more than just medals.

“Her legacy is just showing everyone you can do what you want to do,” said Gabby Thomas, an Olympic medalist sprinter. “She hasn’t let anything stop her.”

She used that high profile to give voice to the voiceless even if it meant taking on the most powerful force in American track and field–Nike.

Her May 2019 op-ed in the New York Times criticizing Nike’s maternity policies triggered a national conversation on the topic.

Felix, long one of the most recognizable female athletes sponsored by Nike, detailed in the piece how the Beaverton, Ore. company offered her a 70% pay cut during December 2017 contract negotiations. Felix, who was pregnant at the time, also said Nike failed to put clear guarantees in the contract for maternity protections she had requested.

“I’ve been one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes,” Felix wrote. “If I can’t secure maternity protections, who can?”

Felix later told Time magazine that her “stomach dropped” when Nike asked her to participate in a female empowerment ad for the company during the maternity protections negotiations.

“I was like, this is beyond disrespectful and tone deaf,” she said.

“We’re working to change industry standards,” Felix said. “I think that is going to be a long battle. I just think that moms are deserving of funding and support. There’s a lot of work to do. But hopefully, I’ve brought some attention to those things. That’s what I was trying to do.”

Nike made maternity policy changes after the Felix op-ed, including guaranteeing athletes salaries and bonuses for 18 months around pregnancy. But by then Felix had left Nike and signed an apparel deal with Athleta. She later launched a shoe line called Saysh.

But she was also excited about competing in a major international championships in the U.S. for the first time and a place that has become almost a second home to her. Felix made five Olympic teams at Hayward Field.

“I feel like I’ve grown up here,” she said.

“It’s been a longtime coming,” Felix said Thursday. “We’re excited that (the world) gets to come here and see what we see and experience the Hayward magic.

“I know in my entire career I’ve always been envious of that athlete in the home country, that applause. So I’m just really excited for all the U.S. athletes to be able to get that experience but to be able to bring our amazing sport to Eugene as well.”

But Friday afternoon the significance of the moment caught up with her.

“It was an emotional day. There was a moment earlier in the day. I was in the hotel and I just kind of broke down. Wes came and talked to me,” she said referring to her brother Wes Felix. :It’s heavy. When I got on the track, I went into race mode. But there were so many messages, just hearing from people, and I think I just never really thought of my impact on the sport. It definitely touched me today.”

And when Felix, running the relay’s second leg, opened up a large lead on the backstretch Friday night, a loud roar chasing her, it seemed like she and the Hayward magic might combine for one more golden moment.

Felix with a 50.15 second split held the lead into the homestretch before the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino edged slightly ahead of her at the exchange. Vernon Norwood opened up another large U.S. lead on the third leg only to see anchor Kennedy Simon get passed in the race’s final meters, first by the Dominican Republic’s Floradliza Cofil and then Femke Bol of the Netherlands. The Dominicans finished in a world leading 3 minutes, 9.82 seconds with the Dutch clocking 3:09.90, Team USA 3:10.16.

“It’s been a challenging year,” Felix said. “I really wanted to enjoy this final season. I found it was hard to balance that. I found that’s not really who I am to step back a little bit, but I think I was kind of forced to just be grateful and reflect on everything.

“ I’m a competitor. I would have been great to walk away with gold. But I’m definitely at the point where it’s bigger than that, so I’m not disappointed at all tonight. I have gratitude. It was fun to run with these guys tonight. I’m proud. I’m proud of a bronze medal.

“It was very special to be able to run in front of a home crowd for my last race. It was so cool. My daughter was in the stands. It was a night I will cherish. I’ve had such good memories. I know it is time and these guys will carry it on into the future.”