Ellis, part of the 4×400 women’s relay team that won a gold medal from Tokyo Olympics, was set to line up in Sunday’s final of the 400-meter race at the U.S. track trials held in Eugene, Oregon.
Type some combination of the words “greatest” “track” and “comebacks” into the browser and, even to this day, a video from the 2018 NCAA championships will come up somewhere high on the first screen.
That video starts with Kendall Ellis of Southern California bobbling the baton at the start of the anchor lap of the women’s 4×400. It ends, 50 seconds and change later, with Ellis making up 30 meters over the homestretch to somehow reel in the two runners in front of her and cross the line first.
“I’m always going to have a little piece of history in track and field,” Ellis said this week at the U.S. track trials held in Eugene, Oregon.
Ellis is 28 now, a professional, the owner of Olympic gold and bronze relay medals and a few more from world championships. She set a personal best, 49.81 seconds, in the semifinals of the 400 meters Saturday and was set to line up in Sunday’s final. Whether she finishes in the top three or not, it wouldn’t be a shock to see her as part of the U.S. relay team when it heads to Paris next month.
“I think it definitely helps when it comes to relays, because it shows I’m trustworthy,” Ellis said. “I guess I’m a vet in the game at this point. It shows I have the maturity to run smart, and I think that’s equally important to having the speed. Certain things you just can’t coach.”
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