Top 10 Best Female Track Athletes (2025): Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Julien Alfred, and Femke Bol make elite list

As the remarkable 2025 year gradually comes to a close, debates over the best female track athletes intensify across the track community, with names such as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Julien Alfred, and Femke Bol being mentioned.

The best female track athletes in 2025 clearly distinguished themselves from their peers, especially at the World Championships in Tokyo. Not only did they win medals, but they also achieved record-breaking times and demonstrated remarkable consistency throughout the season.

With these factors in mind, Pulse Sports Nigeria ranks the Top 10 best female track athletes in 2025 and their projected impact for the upcoming season.

From making history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Saint Lucia's golden girl, Julien Alfred, started the 2025 season with a bang by clocking an exceptional National Record (NR) of 21.88s in her first 200m race of the year.

She lowered this time to 21.71s at the London Diamond League and ran a blistering 10.75s in Stockholm, which marked her as a top favourite for the sprint world titles.

Ironically, during the World Championships in Tokyo, a twist of fate occurred. After winning her rounds with back-to-back 10.93s, in the final, she fought through an injury picked up during warm-up but still sped her way to the bronze medal, then withdrew from the 200m to avoid worsening the injury.

Her early-season form, winning a bronze medal despite running with a painful injury, and retaining Diamond League 100m title, earned her this spot on the list.

After her first loss of the season at the Grand Slam Track in Kingston, Marileidy Paulino bounced back to winning ways with consistent victories and dominated on the Diamond League circuit until the Zurich final, where she finished second behind fierce rival Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain.

Her moment of distinction came at the World Championships, where the Dominican Republic's famous star stormed to the 400m silver medal in an astonishing time of 47.98s - a new NR and the third fastest in history.

Paulino's consistent ability to perform when it matters most makes her highly regarded as one of the world's best athletes.

The Swiss hurdling queen finally had her breakthrough year as one of the world's best hurdlers by producing her best performances on the biggest stages.

Kambundji's indoor season began with her fourth Swiss indoor title in the 60m Hurdles, then shocked Europe at the European Indoor Championships, breaking both the National and European Records with an astonishing 7.67 seconds — making her the second-fastest woman in history. She followed that with a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, narrowly finishing behind World Record holder Devynne Charlton.

Her global glory finally came in Tokyo, where as an underdog against more experienced elite hurdlers, she powered to the 100m Hurdles world title in a NR of 12.24s, making her the seventh fastest woman on the all-time list, and the first Swiss woman to win a World Athletics Championships gold medal.

In her first-ever world championships appearance, Kenya's Lilian Odira surprised herself and every track enthusiast when she became the 800m champion, smashing her personal best by almost two seconds and erasing the 42-year-old championship record.

She surged past pre-race favourites Georgia Hunter-Bell and her compatriot Keely Hodgkinson to win the gold medal in 1:54.62, beating the mark set by Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova at the first world championships in 1983, and making her run the second fastest time ever by a Kenyan woman.

Just one defining record-breaking race was enough to put her on this elite list.

The 21-year-old Kenyan 3000m steeplechase runner began 2025 by dominating the Diamond League and repeatedly defeating the reigning Olympic champion.

Cherotich delivered a record-breaking performance at the Prefontaine Classic, running 8:48.71 to become the 4th fastest woman in history, before closing the Diamond League season in Zurich with a commanding win, finishing nearly 15 seconds ahead of the field.

In Tokyo, the rising star ran a brilliantly measured race, tracking Winfred Yavi before surging clear on the final lap to claim the world title in a new championship record of 8:51.59.

At a young age, the youngster is now the leading figure in the women’s steeplechase.

Dutch hurdling queen Femke Bol solidified her dominance in her trademark event by retaining her 400mH world title in Tokyo in a brilliant 51.54 seconds to end the season unbeaten.

Her victory made her the second woman in history to retain a world title in the event, thus engraving her name as one of the greatest to run the event. Bol also became the Diamond League champion and clocked the top three performances this year.

She was named in the Top 2 Female Athletes of the Year by World Athletics, a decision that sparked significant controversy within the track community.

Her transition into the 400m this season was arguably the best in history. While still a dominant force in her trademark event, the 400m Hurdles, McLaughlin-Levrone proved again her versatility and why she's one of the few generational talents in the sporting world.

The American track queen began the year on the Grand Slam Track circuit, doubling in the 400m and 400mH and even entering the 100m and 100mH. Afterward, she committed fully to the 400m.

Her decision to focus on the quarter-mile came at a time when the event was one of the most competitive eras in history, with Marileidy Paulino and Salwa Eid Naser at the forefront.

Despite having these fierce competitors, McLaughlin-Levrone showed her greatness at the World Championships, first clocking 48.29s in the semifinals to set a new US Record, and then blasting to a jaw-dropping 47.78s to win the final, breaking a 42-year-old Championship Record – the oldest still standing in World Championship history – and posting the fastest women’s 400m in four decades. She also anchored Team USA to women’s 4x400m relay gold in another Championship Record of 3:16.61.

Her historic performances in Tokyo were rewarded by being crowned World Athletics Female Track and Athlete of the Year.

The Kenyan 1500m icon continues to be one of the most dynamic and dominant force in track and field, commanding a high-powered position in the sport's upper echelon.

On June 26, in a special Nike-organized event, Kipyegon attempted a sub-4-minute mile. Though not record-eligible, she clocked 4:06.42, faster than her own World Record, using a team of male and female pacemakers and custom racing gear, producing the fastest mile ever run by a woman.

In her 1500m season opener at the Prefontaine Classic, she shattered her world record, running 3:48.68 – her third WR in the event, thus taking 0.36 seconds off the mark she set the previous year in Paris. Kipyegon also came close to the 3000m World Record, breaking the African Record previously held by Beatrice Chebet with an 8:07.04 performance at the Silesia Diamond League.

Finally, in Tokyo, she claimed her fourth world title in the 1500m, equalling the legendary Hicham El Guerrouj’s record for the most World Championship titles and going unbeaten in 2025. Not resting on her oars, she added 5000m silver medal to cap off another iconic season.

Having had a dominant 2024 Olympic season, Chebet continued from where she stopped with even better form, inserting herself firmly in the Top 2 conversation of the world's best female athletes.

The middle/long distance specialist became the second-fastest woman ever in the 5000m at the Rome Diamond League, running 14:03.69 to break Faith Kipyegon’s Kenyan Record.

At the Prefontaine Classic, Chebet smashed the world record in an astonishing time of 13:58.06, erasing Gudaf Tsegay’s previous time by over two seconds.

And finally in Tokyo, she completed the 5000m and 10,000m double, repeating her Olympic heroics from Paris. In doing so, Chebet became only the third woman in history to achieve the double after Tirunesh Dibaba in 2005 and Vivian Cheruiyot in 2011.

She had arguably the greatest sprint season in history. During the year, Jefferson-Wooden was nearly flawless, losing just one race on her way to complete dominance in the 100m and 200m. Her ability to thrive under pressure solidifies her position at the top.

Coming from winning a 100m bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games, she took the 2025 season by storm, breaking several records, setting world-leading times in the 100m and 200m, and capping off her season on a historic note in Tokyo.

Jefferson-Wooden dominated the Grand Slam Track league, with her vital victory coming in Philadelphia, where she produced a remarkable double, clocking 10.73s in the 100m and 21.99s in the 200m. She carried that momentum to the US Championships, where she became the first woman since Torri Edwards in 2003 to win the sprint double.

At the World Championships, she completed a historic sprint treble, setting a new 100m Championship Record of 10.61s, a personal best of 21.68s in the 200m, and led the charge for USA's 4x100m gold medal-winning relay team. With these, she became the second woman in history, after the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (2013), to attain the feat.

Highlighting her monumental accomplishments this season, the sky is the limit for the undisputed sprint queen of 2025.