'I Like to be Respected' - Melissa Jefferson-Wooden Opens Up After World Athletics Awards Snub

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden delivered a phenomenal 2025 season, but despite her historic achievements, she was overlooked for the World Athletics Athlete of the Year award.

Now, the triple gold medalist has opened up about how it felt after she failed to make the cut to the final list of the awards.

The long list of nominees included five track superstars, including Beatrice Chebet, Femke Bol, Melissa Jefferson Wooden, Faith Kipyegon and Sydney McLaughlin Levrone.

PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Google News, Stay informed with Latest Sport News

The final cut narrowed this elite group down to just two athletes, Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin Levrone, with the winner set to be announced at the World Athletics Awards ceremony in Monaco on November 30.

After an early-season loss to Gabby Thomas in Miami, something ignited in Jefferson-Wooden. She went on to dominate the track in Tokyo, sweeping the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.

This rare feat made her only the second athlete, after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, to win all three sprint events at a single World Championship.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden was undefeated in 20 of her 22 races, consistently leaving competitors behind and setting records along the way.

Speaking with The Track and Field Network about the Athlete of the Year controversy, she admitted her frustration. For Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, being overlooked has become a familiar feeling.

"Okay, let’s see. Part of me was mad, then the other part of me is like I've been getting overlooked in my career for so long, now it's just like I don't want to say that I'm used to it, but in a sense it's just kind of like, okay, cool, fine, whatever,” she revealed.

“I guess I'll have to try harder next time is what I felt like. I was like, what else was I supposed to do? It kind of felt like a slap in the face to all the work that I put in this year to be able to do what I went out there and did."

Despite the disappointment, she remains proud of her accomplishments. "I like to be respected," she stated. "You can keep it, actually. It’s okay. Yeah, I’m cool."

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who delivered one of the greatest single-season campaigns by an American woman in the sport's history, expressed her confusion over the decision.

Although nominated on the fan-voting list, the world champion was eliminated in the early rounds due to insufficient votes.

While both Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone had remarkable seasons, their achievements arguably do not match Jefferson-Wooden's triple-gold haul.

Her statistics underscore her supremacy this season, with more than half of the year's top 10 fastest times belonging to her. However, she has since put that behind her back and is focused on the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest next year.