Allyson Felix waves goodbye to international competition with Track & Field Worlds mixed 4x400m relay bronze

It's been one heck of a ride for the USA's Allyson Felix.

After an unrivalled 19 medals, including 13 golds from ten World Championships and 11 Olympic medals including seven golds, the 36-year-old has called time on her athletics career by winning bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene.

In truth, there aren't many better places she could have chosen for her farewell event, with this year's Worlds taking place on US soil for the first time in history.

But it was the manner in which Felix bowed out - with yet another World Championships medal - and the rousing response of the Hayward Field crowd that showed she remains one of the biggest attractions in sport.

A fitting farewell for an athletics legend

Felix sat out the morning heats of the mixed 4x400m, but on a balmy evening in Eugene she made her way to the track for the final event of Day 1 of the Track & Field World Championships.

Running the second leg in a team that also included Elija Godwin, Vernon Norwood and Kennedy Simon, Felix inherited the baton in second place and sprinted down the track. After handing off to Norwood in second position, the USA made ground on the early leaders Dominican Republic, and by the time they entered the last leg they were leading. However, in a dramatic final 400m, the anchors of both Dominican Republic and Netherlands passed the USA's Simon before the finish line.

As Felix sat on the track draped in the US flag, you got the feeling that the crowd were witnessing something special. The end of an era the likes of which it will be hard to imagine living through again.

And for the athlete herself, this race was different to the countless others she has run in her career.

"Really special," was how Felix described the final international race of her career. "I felt a lot of love out there and it was cool. I wasn't sure what to expect, you know, running at home, but it met every expectation.

"And it's a night that I'll really cherish. No, it definitely felt different. I think it's the first time I heard the crowd while I was running and I didn't expect that. It was really cool and I just felt a lot of love from a lot of people. It was an emotional day."

Away from the athletics track, Felix has done much to further the position of women in sport, with recent initiatives that include establishing a childcare service for mothers at track meets and providing USD 10,000 childcare grants to athletes who are mothers.

Along with her many athletic achievements, it will be this work that stands as her lasting legacy.