

Imagine having a 4x track and field Olympian at home who inspires you every day! Well, an American phenom is fortunately living that reality. The countless stories and an enormous medal collection at home are probably the 22-year-old sprinter’s reminder that if her mother kept running till 38, why can’t she? Today, it’s time to take that inspiration a notch higher. Because the mommy sprinter is back to the running tracks after a long hiatus of nearly 25 years, and the daughter cannot help but beam with joy!
We’re talking about none other than the track and field mother-daughter duo, Talitha Diggs and Joetta Clark Diggs. The latter is currently 62 but evidently, her age isn’t slowing her down. Because she’s just pulled off an incredible feat and the entire track and field community is talking about it! And Talitha? She’s the proudest a daughter can ever be. No wonder she showed up in a custom t-shirt to support her mother! Want to know the where, when, and how? Read on!
On February 24, Talitha Diggs added a post applauding her mother Joetta for her comeback victory at the 2025 USATF Masters Indoor Championships. Yes, Joetta Diggs just ran 200m in 28.62 seconds, etching a new American record in the 60-64 women’s age category at the event. And Talitha naturally could not keep calm! “MY MOM IS AMAZING…” she flexed her mother’s extraordinary feat and suggested that there couldn’t have been a better race where she watched her mom run for the first time!
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And yes, Talitha is as proud as a daughter can be as she showed up in an orange t-shirt that read, “Team Momma Jo 4X Olympian” at the back. It also read, “Daughter/Coach” in the front, hinting that Talitha may have used her knowledge of the contemporary sport to mentor her mother for her return to the track after 2.5 decades! No wonder the moment Joetta saw she’d broken the record, she ran to Tailtha in the stands and the two shared a wholesome hug!
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Well, what Talitha’s mother Joetta Clark Diggs has done is an example of the extraordinary in track and field. The veteran had never run a 200m race in her 28-year-long elite career. She was a core middle-distance runner, with the shortest form she ever ran during her pro days being the 400m. Also, the last time she ran a competitive event was in 2000, running 1:57 in an 800m. However, she managed to train herself and adapted to a whole new form of sprinting after 25 years. Clearly, this remains an exemplary example of shaping yourself to set an example at 62!
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No wonder, when it comes to track and field, Talitha Diggs has always drawn inspiration from her mother. And well, her aunts too who have been multi-time Olympians. Speaking to Olympics.com in 2023, Diggs remarked, “To see that she [Joetta Clark Diggs] has achieved so much, I know that she has sacrificed so much. That helps me want to sacrifice because I’m like, ‘Hey, look, my mom achieved all of these great things. I want to achieve great things too.'” Here’s a short summary of what Joetta Diggs has achieved through the years!
What’s your perspective on:
Is Joetta Clark Diggs redefining what it means to be an athlete in your 60s?
Have an interesting take?
Is Talitha Diggs as fast as her mother once was?
Talitha Diggs definitely draws huge inspiration from the fact that her mother, Joetta Diggs, an Olympian and a World Indoor Championship medalist never missed a single trial between 1979 and 2000, her peak performance days! But when it comes to the daughter, is she as fast? Firstly, we need to understand that Talitha and Joetta have had differing event specialties. Talitha is a classic sprinter, targeting the shorter distances while Joetta had always been a middle distance name! Yet, there was one event where they made history together!
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Let’s go back to the Millrose Games 2024! This was when the 300m debutant Talitha Diggs made headlines because she was the first to cross the tape in the event. That’s when Joetta penned, “So proud of my daughter Talitha Diggs for her amazing victory at the Millrose Games season opener! Making history as the first mother-daughter duo to conquer this event, alongside my sister Hazel as the first sisters to win!” Her mother Joetta had won at the same event in 1977, which made them a historic mother-daughter duo!
And now, as they have sprung into the headline again! This time because of the mother’s track and field feat! What do you think of this? Let us know below!
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Debate
Is Joetta Clark Diggs redefining what it means to be an athlete in your 60s?