From Thompson-Herah to Christian Coleman: Five track athletes needing major comebacks in 2025 season

With the 2025 season around the corner, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Christian Coleman, and these athletes will be aiming to have an audacious comeback, which will put them back in the conversation among the world's best athletes.

Following the successful completion of a historic Olympic season for several athletes, others such as Elaine Thompson-Herah and Christian Coleman had a heartbreaking year and will be gunning for major comebacks in the 2025 season.

Thompson-Herah alongside Coleman and three other athletes dropped from the elite world's best in their respective events this season, having failed to compete at the Paris Olympics, win a Diamond League trophy, or have a meaningful impact to encompass a brilliant year.

With the 2025 season around the corner, these five athletes will be aiming to have an audacious comeback, thus putting them back in the conversation among the world's best athletes.

Athing Mu

When Athing Mu capped off her 2023 season on a high by winning the Diamond League 800m title in a new American Record of 1:54.97 to become the ninth fastest woman in history, it gave the positive notion of being in perfect alignment to have a better 2024 year, moreso as the defending Olympic champion.

Sadly, the talented runner had a traumatic Olympic qualifying experience at the US trials, where an unexpected fall in the final derailed her chances of making the top 3 finishers on the team to Paris, thus abruptly ending her season.

More disappointing is that her Season's Best (SB) performance of 1:58.84 clocked to win her semifinal race at the US trials, is 46th on the world's 2024 Toplist - the first time in her professional career she's outside the Top 10 best performers.

Now with a new season to regain her relevance in 2025, the 22-year-old will be gunning to bounce back to the iconic form that saw her claim her first world title in Eugene two years ago, which saw her become the first American woman to win a world championship title over the distance, and the youngest woman ever (age 19) to hold Olympic and world titles in an individual track and field event.

Tobi Amusan

The Nigerian hurdling queen started the 2024 season on a record-breaking note when she blazed to a new 60mH African Record of 7.77s at the Astana Indoor Meet in Kazakhstan. She lowered this time less than a week later to 7.75s at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.

With her impressive early-season performances indoors, Amusan was one of the top challengers for a medal at the world indoor championships in Glasgow but instead, opted out from competing in the Scottish city.

Moving outdoors, the 100mH world record holder continued her established dominance on the continent by successfully defending her African Games title. However, her best season performance came at the Jamaica Athletics Invitational, where she recorded an impressive time of 12.40s.

The struggles to maintain a consistent form throughout the season were finally punished in Paris, after failing to make the Olympic final - her first major non-final appearance since 2016. This led to abruptly shutting her season, in a year where the women's 100mH event had one of the spotlights and produced some of the best performances in history.

With the 2025 season set to be even more competitive having a new generation of hurdlers such as Olympic champion Masai Russel, Jamaican sensation Ackera Nugent, French revelation Cyrena Samba-Mayela, not forgetting Amusan's fierce rival Jasmine Camacho-Quinn hungry for success, the Nigerian queen will surely be aiming to bounce back to recognition and prove that her historic 2022 season of becoming the world champion and record holder was no fluke.

Shericka Jackson

In a lukewarm year for Jamaica Athletics, star sprinter Shericka Jackson surely had her most gloomy season as an athlete.

Highly rated as one of the best sprinters to grace the track, having had an iconic 2023 season that saw her strengthen her position as the fastest woman alive in the women's 200m event, was the world 100m silver medallist, and double sprint Diamond League champion, Jackson was in a league of her own to replicate the same measure or better accomplishments in the 2024 Olympic year.

Unfortunately, being plagued with injuries didn't see her dream materialize as she barely reached the height of running the jaw-dropping times that placed her on top of the world's top list last season.

Notwithstanding, Jackson's winning performances to defend her 100m and 200m titles at the Jamaican Olympic Trials in respective 10.84s and 22.29s, still puts her in the conversation that when injury-free, remains the woman to beat in the sprint.

With the emergence of Saint Lucia's golden girl Julien Alfred who's brimming with confidence after winning the Olympic and Diamond League titles, while still having American speedsters Sha'Carri Richardson and Gabby Thomas well-grounded in the mix, Jackson's shooting aim will be on bouncing back in 2025 and showing that her best career form isn't behind yet.

Christian Coleman

At the start of the season, veteran sprinter Christian Coleman was marked with the drive to win his first Olympic medal in Paris, but this became a futile goal when he failed to make the individual team at the US Olympic Trials.

Known as a 60m specialist, the 28-year-old regained his world indoor title in Glasgow by defeating stack rival Noah Lyles in a new world-leading time of 6.41s and looked on track to take the form outdoors for a memorable Olympic year.

With a series of top finishes in Diamond League meets, Coleman seemed to have everything perfectly lined until the US Olympic trials, where despite blazing to the fastest semifinal time in 9.86s, disappointingly couldn't replicate the same or better performance in the final and settled for fourth in 9.93s, hence agonizingly missing out on the 100m team to Paris.

Regardless, he tried to make an instant comeback in the 200m but ironically settled for the same position. With his fate sealed it was announced post-Paris Olympics that Coleman had left his long-term coach Tim Hull, and joined his alleged girlfriend's training group Sha'Carri Richardson under the guidance of coach Dennis Mitchell with the aim of reviving his best years that saw him become the 2019 world champion and run a groundbreaking personal best of 9.76s, placing him one of the fastest men in history.

Coleman ended his disappointing 2024 year with a second-place finish at the Diamond League final in Brussels, and with next season set to be another championship year under the tutoring of coach Dennis Mitchell, the track star will be gunning to finally win his first major 100m medal since 2019.

Elaine Thompson-Herah

World's fastest woman alive Thompson-Herah has definitely had one of the most difficult seasons any athlete could face in their career, having been plagued with injuries, coaching problems, and the dagger of not making the Jamaican Olympic team to Paris.

The five-time Olympic champion was poised to gun for history in Paris by becoming the first woman to do triple 100m and 200m titles at the three consecutive Olympic Games, but that was cut short after withdrawing from the Jamaica Olympic trials following an Achilles tendon injury sustained at the NYC Grand Prix.

Currently having a coaching dilemma as it's reported she has parted ways with current coach Reynaldo Walcott with no new coach confirmed yet, it remains to be seen how she'll navigate her heartbreaking situations and return to the elite league of the world's best female sprinters.

Many athletics enthusiasts believe she's past her prime and can't make a major comeback again. However, if there's one thing annals have proven through the years, it's never to write off a Jamaican speed queen.