After a brutal season, Sha’Carri Richardson finally got her moment, gold around her neck at the 4x100m relay finale, alongside Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Kayla White, and Twanisha Terry. Now, with the off-season underway and less than a month before the next, Richardson already has her 2026 vision locked in. And she isn’t charging ahead solo. One of her closest teammates has stepped forward with a fiery confession of her own as well.

Enter Kayla White, the AT&T alum who stamped her name on the world stage at the World Athletics Championships by reaching the 100m semi-final, her best global run to date. The 29-year-old is now looking at the upcoming season with hope in her eyes. White in a conversation with ‘The AT&T Register’ mentioned that she’s determined to inspire others to push past their limits and leave a lasting mark on the sport forever.

“More medals, more PRs, and just more healthy seasons. You can come from anything, you can come from anywhere, and be a winner and do things that people say you can be.” 

During her time at AT&T, Kayla White lined up for more than 175 races, winning 32 and finishing inside the top five on 71 occasions. Her collegiate resume is just as stacked: 14 MEAC titles, three First-Team All-American honors, two Second-Team nods, an indoor NCAA championship, and a four-year sweep of the 60m hurdles at the MEAC Indoor Championships.

The former 100m world champion, Sha’Carri Richardson, has her sights set on redemption in 2026 after a 2025 marred by injuries and controversy. Earlier this month, while immersed in the football calendar, she couldn’t resist the familiar pull of competition, realizing, once again, that she’s built for the track and nothing else.

“I don’t know if you need to hear this, but I feel like all the football fans know. Now I’m just waiting for track season to come back. Now that y’all got football season, I’m just waiting on track season to come back,” she shared on Instagram.

With the 2026 season just weeks away, athletes are once again circling dates on the calendar and gearing up for their comebacks. Alongside Sha’Carri Richardson and Kayla White, several other stars have stepped forward with bold statements of intent, each ready to take on the upcoming challenges head-on.

Sha’Carri Richardson and Kayla White are not the only ones

Missing the World Championships in Tokyo due to an Achilles tendon injury, 200m Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas is more than ready to write a comeback in the 2026 season. In a recent conversation with the media, Thomas expressed her excitement about returning to competition and confirmed her interest in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on January 24, 2026.

“I’ll do indoors. I’ll probably be at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston at the end of January.”

The likelihood is that the athlete is recovering far quicker than expected. Just last month, she took on the ‘Impossible Mile’ challenge, showing no signs of slowing down. She powered through 400 meters of burpee broad jumps, 400 meters of walking lunges, 400 meters of bear crawls, and capped it off with a 400-meter run to empty the tank, all without any noticeable difficulty.

Another major name could join the indoor season, too. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the newly minted 400m world champion, recently expressed her desire to return to competition during a conversation with FOX 5 at the 17th Annual Induction Ceremony in New Jersey, where she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the town.

“You know, I enjoyed my off-season a little too much, so I’m gonna slowly get back into training now. I’ve been eating a little too much, but you have to rest, you know?“

With the 2025 season now in the rear-view mirror, athletes are turning their focus towards a fresh dawn and a chance to rewrite their limits once again with renewed motivation.

How do you think the new season will unfold? Share your thoughts in the comments below.