Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Nicola Olyslager, Mondo Duplantis, Tara Davis-Woodhall were the names that made the final list for the 2025 World Athlete of the Year awards. But Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, though in plain sight, missed making the list. And she became the first American woman ever to win the 100m, 200m, and the 4x100m relay golds at the same World Championships in Tokyo this year. However, the USATF could not ignore Jefferson-Wooden. Hence, they took it upon themselves to bridge that gap.

She didn’t stack wins only at Tokyo, where she became the second-fastest American woman of all time in the 100m dash, clocking in a time of 10.61s. Additionally, she ran a world lead of 21.68s in the 200m race at the 2025 World Athletics Championships. On top of that, Jefferson-Wooden was undefe

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