'Anonymous' US athletes worry Coe as LA28 looms

The US track and field team might be "one for the ages", but they need to be better known in their own country ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.

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ZURICH - The US track and field team might be "one for the ages", but they need to be better known in their own country ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.

The likes of Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles might wow on the European stage and be hailed walking down a street in Monaco, Paris or Zurich, but Coe said the fact he and other outstanding domestic talent went largely incognito at home was worrying just three years from the next Summer Games.

The US have topped the medal table at the world championships 15 times in the 19 editions to date. The then-East Germany came out on top in the opening two world championships in 1983 and 1987, while Russia dominated in 2001 and Kenya in 2015.

For all of the success of the US team on the international stage, athletics remains a minority sport in the United States, notably on television.

That status was compounded by the failure of Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track series in 2025.