NCAA Men’s 400 Hurdles — A 1–2 For Alabama

OUR PREMEET FORMCHART was a bit of a mess by the time the 400 hurdlers finally lined up. Predicted winner Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas didn’t survive the semis, his 49.82 leaving him as the fastest non-qualifier.

Similarly, 2-time defending champion Sean Burrell of LSU, who already didn’t look like his old self coming into the meet, could only manage a nonqualifying 4th in his section.

It might not have mattered anyway — Alabama junior Chris Robinson’s winning 48.12 tied him for No. 7 on the all-time collegiate list. Behind him, teammate Corde Long (48.53) took advantage of fading challengers to deliver a Crimson Tide 1–2 right at the line.

Texas Tech’s Caleb Dean took the early initiative, aggressively leading the early hurdles and almost catching Baylor’s Nathaniel Ezekiel. That turned out to be the classic quartermile mistake, as his advantage was already gone at halfway.

Exiting the curve, Robinson established his lead and then found a gear over the final 100 that no one else had. To his outside, Dean and Ezekiel fought a desperate battle for silver that they would both lose. Seemingly out of the medals beginning the homestretch, Long snatched 2nd literally in the final meter. Ezekiel took bronze in 48.54 and Dean clocked 48.56.

“At the end of the race I felt pretty good,” said Robinson. “I got over hurdle 3 and felt a little shaky because I stood up a little bit, but I got back into my rhythm. I got off the 200 and felt good so I said, ‘OK, time to kick it in and bring it home.”

“Since the beginning of the season we worked hard in and out of practice, and we always thought we’d come 1 and 2 at the end of the year, and today we were the ones to do it,” Robinson said. “We got great coaches, great training partners, a great environment. It’s pretty good to be around.”

Said Long, “We push each other a lot, too. Every day at practice, 1–2 all the time.”

Robinson said his strength over the final straight came from a different track background.

“I was always a distance guy growing up, so I got a little more stamina in me,” Robinson said.

“The beginning of the year, we already knew what we got going for us,” Long said. “We know our training, so we expected this outcome.”

Robinson added, “We knew we had a lot of great competition, but in all reality,…