The Penn Relay Carnival hosts athletes who travel across the globe to compete for the ultimate accessory: a commemorative Penn Relays champion watch, the meet’s unique twist on a typical medal presentation.
It’s no surprise that one of track’s largest stages brings out the season’s most expressive personal-style pieces.
Fashion and track and field long have been intertwined — vivid hair, jewel-encrusted nails, and eye-catching spikes often make appearances at the start line of high-profile events. In track and field, a standardized uniform often serves as the foundation for athletes to spin off from, adding their own accessories and twists that tie in with school colors, logos, and lots of personal embellishment.
Sprinter Michael Johnson’s 14-carat gold Nike spikes he wore to win the 200-meter to 400m double at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta became iconic in their own right, sparking decades of appreciation like the bedazzled spikes we saw at this weekend’s relays.
Johnson is pictured attending the 2000 Penn Relays; he retired his legendary career in the United States at the Penn Relays in 2001.
United States sprinting icon and record holder in the 100m and 200m dash, Florence Griffith-Joyner, colloquially known as Flo Jo, wrote the blueprint for women’s self-expression on the track. She showed up to the starting block in one-legged racing suits, lace tights, and vibrant nails that have lived on in the sport through modern phenoms.
The love affair between track and field and high fashion only continues to grow. Sprinter Sha’carri Richardson, known for her vibrant hairstyles, is set to host the 2025 Met Gala centering Black tailoring and fashion. Sprinter Gabby Thomas was the cover of the January issue of Vogue, titled “When Sports Met Fashion.” High jumper Vashti Cunningham, who competed at this weekend’s relays, walked in Virgil Abloh’s Off-White Spring/Summer 2019 show at Paris Fashion Week.
NFL legend Deion Sanders once said, “If you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, you play good.” The Penn Relays’ dynamic style landscape proves that the fastest athletes in the world abide by that principle as well. The confidence boost and sense of individuality propels athletes to perform their best on the track, and to feel good doing so.
The Daily Pennsylvanian compiled some of our favorite style moments from Penn Relays — from this weekend as well as decades past.
Junior Kampton Kam, the No. 1 high jumper in the NCAA and a Penn Relays champion, clears the bar in mismatched spikes.
Mico sprinter Rasheed Foster took the men’s 100m crown on Saturday and used his starting bib to elevate a personal message.
Future London Olympic Games 800m bronze medalist Alysia Montaño wore a flower in her hair all throughout her professional career, which she explained to Runner’s World: “I grew up with a bunch of boys and [the flower] gave me my own sense of empowerment, being feminine yet strong. Feminine doesn’t mean I have to wear pink and prance around. It just means strength.”
Besides her prolific athletic journey, Montaño would go on to capture the world spotlight as a maternity health advocate when she raced in USA Track & Field national championships while pregnant in the mid-2010s and worked with The New York Times to shed light on the unjust contractual obligations of Nike women athletes.
She has turned that advocacy into a second career with her nonprofit organization, For All Mothers+, for which she won the 2024 Team USA Community Champions Award.
Phyllis Smith-Livingston is the mother of Penn heptathlete and member of the 2018 Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor championships squad Tia Livingston. She kept the family represented at the relays as an official this year, corralling the relays to the start line in a jaunty Red and Blue scarf.
Subtle intimidation is wearing bracelets from the USATF national championships at the start line.
A beard like this does not grow overnight, and a smile like that at the start means you’ve got to keep your eye on this seasoned Masters competitor.
Penn President Larry Jameson sports a coveted all-access pass over a spirited checkered top, repping school colors.
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