Fifth Time With Team USA, 35-Year-Old Track & Field Athlete Reveals Excitement for World Athletics Championships

At the 2025 USATF Championships on July 31, 2025, amid stars like Noah Lyles and Melissa Woodson Jefferson, one story stood out: a comeback done perfectly the track and field. Thirty-five-year-old Emily Infeld stole the spotlight. “It was the longest victory lap ever,” she said, charging down the final stretch at Hayward Field. Outrunning Elise Cranny, Taylor Roe, and Weini Kelati Frezghi, Infeld claimed the women’s 10,000 meters in 31:43.56. And with that performance, she also secured her fifth induction with Team USA, and she’s already buzzing with excitement for Japan.

After years of battling injuries and setbacks, she certainly made history by winning her first U.S title at the age of 35, and becoming one of the oldest athletes to achieve this feat. Talking to the media, she stated how excited she is to go to Tokyo, and guess what, it’s all about sushi!

While having a conversation with Brooks Running, she revealed, “I’m so excited for the sushi in Tokyo. I just feel like you can never eat enough sushi, like you can eat 100 pieces and it’s just like you want more. It’s the best.” Infeld’s fondness for Japanese cuisine is evident.

Emily Infeld’s journey has been a turbulent saga. In 2019, a sudden hip injury marked a pivotal moment in her career, forcing major surgery to repair a torn labrum. After a grueling 13-week recovery, she returned in 2020 with remarkable performances: a 5000m personal best of 14:51.91 at Boston University Track & Tennis Center and a 10,000m best of 30:59.38 at JSerra Catholic High School, San Juan Capistrano. Yet, the triumph was short-lived, as a stress fracture in her hip once again delayed her comeback.

After a long road to recovery, the 35-year-old finally decided to take control of her fate by competing in the 10,000m race. Despite the risk of another injury, she delivered a spectacular performance, crossing the finish line in record time and making her presence known with Team USA en route to Japan for the World Championship.

In one of her conversations from early August 2025, talking about her victory, she stated, “I can’t believe people are so nice, like, kind to me, and I just love this sport so much, and I’m such a fan of it too, and I was like, I love everyone.”

Infeld further added, “I was racing…all the women are so incredible and we all have such a good story, and no one’s gotten through unscathed in this sport, and I think that’s what bonds people together too…it’s just so hard and you just know when we’re all putting so much into it and its not coming together and I think a lot of people can relate to that.”

Well, to secure victory at the 2025 USATF Championships, she had to overhaul her entire routine, including her diet. Arriving in Eugene, she reunited with Chris Miltenberg, the coach who had shaped her collegiate career at Georgetown over ten years ago and now mentors her remotely from Portland. And it was a motivational message from an unexpected person that fueled her final drive towards the victory.

Who gave Emily Infeld the motivation and confidence to make her sensational comeback at 35?

After placing 9th and 16th at the previous two US Championships in track and field, Emily Infeld knew that it would certainly be difficult for her to challenge her body at the age of 35. At this point, most of the distance runners transition to marathon as track speed declines. She was planning to do that as well; however, during a meeting with Brooks Running’s Head of Sports Marketing, Garrett Heath, she was taken aback. Heath gave her the confidence she needed all along, “Remember,” he told Infeld, “you have a medal.”

He gave her all the motivation she needed to succeed, and fueled by that, she stepped into 2025 with confidence, becoming the oldest woman to claim the US 10,000-meter title since Lynn Jennings, who won her seventh crown at 37 in 1998. “To have that belief and faith and to feel like a company that just saw me and wanted to support me just means the world,” Infeld said. “I feel so thankful. It’s hard to maintain sponsorships for so long. They saw a 35-year-old and said, you can still be good on the track, you can be good on the road. It’s amazing.”

She further added, “I was doing a lot of miles that were so slow. Now more of my miles are quality…lots and lots of threshold training. I don’t feel like I do anything that crazy, but just really consistent.” Now, with her eyes set on Tokyo, she aims to make a name for herself in Asia. But will she be able to leave her mark among the greats of the world? Only time will tell.