From the outhouse: 400-meter runner from locked in a potty straight to the Olympics

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – It was a classic case of going from an outhouse to a penthouse.

Less than an hour before the U.S. track and field semifinals, 400-meter runner Kendall Ellis found herself trapped in a portable porta-potty, banging on the door and screaming for somebody to let her out.

Fortunately, someone did it. She won that race, setting a personal best, after which got here back on Sunday to beat that result and win the final, in addition to the national championship and the berth that got here with it at the Olympics.

“Crazy things happen right before something great is about to happen, so maybe I needed that to get all the nerves and adrenaline out,” she said.

Nobody expected this.

No one could have expected this performance either.

Ellis’ time of 49.81 seconds in Saturday’s semifinal was her first personal best in six years. In the final she improved this result by 0.35.

Now the 28-year-old, considered mainly a relay specialist, will go to the Olympics to fight for her own title.

“I just believe in myself,” she replied when asked what caused this sudden rebirth. “The training hasn’t changed, the results in practice haven’t changed, but finally something came along that said, ‘You can do this.’ You can fight the best and finish better than anyone else.”

Featured Stories

The funny thing is that she’s had video for the last six years to prove it.

Even today, for those who type a combination of the words “greatest,” “track” and “comebacks” into your browser, Ellis’ video from the 2018 NCAA Championships will appear somewhere high on the first screen.

In that race, Ellis cleared the homestretch by 30 meters and led Southern California to victory in the 4×400-meter relay.

Halfway through the final lap of the 2018 relay, she was in third place, barely on the screen. Seconds later, the TV announcer all but handed the race to the Purdue runner in the lead: “No way, if Purdue doesn’t drop the baton, they’re going to win, which we certainly haven’t seen.”

Ellis cared about several things. She knew the Purdue runner was a mid-distance specialist and did not have the same closing kick as her.

“And I wasn’t listening to the announcer or anyone else,” she said. “I will always be optimistic about my chances. I mean, if I don’t believe in myself, who else will?”

A victory that made Ellis something of a mini-legend in the track world. Thanks in part to her relay efforts, she formed multiple national teams. Three years ago in Tokyo, she won Olympic gold, running in the women’s 4×400 qualifying round, and bronze in the 4×400 mixed race.

But one memory that stands proud in my mind from that yr was her fourth-place finish in the trials, a 0.07-second loss that left her on the sidelines watching the individual race.

“I remember being very devastated,” she said. “I would have preferred to finish fifth or sixth. But it was definitely a learning experience and as I stepped onto the field today, I told myself I didn’t want that feeling again.”