EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Type the combination of the words “best,” “track” and “comeback” into your browser and a video from the 2018 NCAA Championships pops up at the top of the first screen.
The video begins with Kendall Ellis of Southern California bobbing the baton at the start of the women's 4x400m anchor lap, and ends just over 50 seconds later with Ellis gaining 30 meters in the home straight and managing to pass the two runners ahead of her to finish in first place.
“I'm always going to have a little bit of track and field history,” Ellis said this week at the USA Track and Field Championships.
Ellis is 28 and a professional athlete with an Olympic gold and bronze medal in the relay, as well as several world championship medals. She ran a personal best of 49.81 seconds in the 400 meters semifinal on Saturday and was set to compete in Sunday's final. Whether she finishes in the top three or not, it wouldn't be a surprise to see her on the U.S. relay team heading to Paris next month.
“I think it definitely helps me with the relays because it proves that I'm a reliable athlete,” Ellis said. “I feel like I'm a veteran at this point in the sport. I've proven that I have the maturity to run smart, and I think that's just as important as having speed. There are some things a coach can never do.”
Ellis said the impetus for his comeback dates back to 2018, when he ran even faster than he had before on a rainy, slippery track at Hayward Field and was eventually passed.
She called it a “lesson learned.”
Her sweetest win? Not that one. It was her 2018 indoor 400m title.
“It was an American record, a collegiate record,” she said. “I wasn't expected to win. The announcers never talked about me, never said my name. And when I won, the headlines weren't about me, they were about someone else. It meant a lot to me. It was the beginning of, 'She can do this,' and I believed I could make history.”
Whatever happens this week, or the rest of the summer, won't change that.
She qualified for the Tokyo Olympics as part of the 4×400 women's relay team, won a gold medal, and also won a bronze medal in the 4×400 mixed relay, and previously won two gold medals as part of relay teams at the World Championships.
She was part of the mixed relay team that won gold at this year's IAAF World Championships, an indication that she will be on the coaching staff's radar as they look for sprinters to potentially compete on the relay roster at the Paris Games.
With some research, it won’t be hard to find Ellis’ most famous races.
Halfway through the final lap of the 2018 relay, she's in third place, 30 meters back, barely visible on the screen, as one of the announcers talks about the Kentucky runner behind her who is catching up at breakneck speed.
Seconds later, another announcer handed the race over to Purdue: “There's no way Purdue can win unless he drops the baton. We're definitely not seeing that happen.”
Ellis had some advantages: She knew that Purdue's runners were middle-distance specialists but didn't have the finishing power that she did.
“I wasn't listening to the announcers or anyone else,” she said. “I'm always optimistic about my chances. I mean, if I don't believe in myself, who will?”
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