The impact of making the Paris Olympics as part of Team USA's squad still resonates with Allie Wilson.

She punched her ticket as part of a chaotic women's 800m final in Eugene last year as part of a whirlwind season where she also signed a contract with Nike — part of a sign that things were changing and the pauses in life would soon become rarer.

But in a fast sport, the time away from the track feels even faster and 2025's long season on the track has wrapped and road races now dominate calendar.

Wilson spoke with me last month after a frantic Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City and touched on several points as she caught her breath — including her move up to the 1,500m (and mile) — and what a post-Olympic mindset means for the chase to be healthy and consistent.

T'Mars McCallum is accustomed to running in a tough collegiate conference — the SEC — and boldly proud of being one of the leaders of Tennessee's track and field squad.

But his world shifted a bit last weekend at the Ed Murphey Classic in Memphis when he ran the world lead in the 200m in 19.73. The eyes of the sport suddenly looked his way and he was far from a face in a crowd of sprinters. And in a few weeks he could be among those competing for a world title in Tokyo.

In this episode, McCallum talks about his whirlwind weekend, team camaraderie and even coaching himself in high school as he tried being a sprinter and jumper.

During in the beginning of a pandemic era that rattled the world in 2020, Isabella Whittaker saw her own beginnings as a student at the University of Pennsylvania. But it was after those days at Penn — after enrolling at Arkansas in 2024 as a graduate student — that Whittaker kickstarted the current state of her place in the track landscape.

Her times in the 400m fell and fell again with her 50.48 performance at the 2024 U.S. Olympics trials propelling her to the women's final. And while she finished sixth, the time earned her a slot in the American relay pool — with her biggest moment coming as her collegiate career was coming to a close.

On March 1, she hurled herself to seventh all-time on the women's 400m world indoor list with a 49.90 at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.

And suddenly, Whittaker progressed, with the pace of the professional ranks — and her performances — ensuring that she will likely be a factor as world championships approach.

In her own words, she illustrates her own great progression.