Kendall Ellis already had a signature moment on the track. On Sunday at the US Olympic trials, she created another. - The Boston Globe (2024)

Ellis, 28, is already the owner of Olympic gold and bronze relay medals and a few more from world championships. Given her resume, nobody would have viewed it as a shock for her to be named to this year’s U.S. relay pool. Now, that’s not an issue. The first-place finish makes her an obvious choice.

Ellis said her now-second-greatest win had roots from the year before when she ran an even faster split than she did on the rain-slickened track at Hayward Field in 2018 and got chased down at the end.

“A learning lesson,” she called it.

Among her medals are the gold from the Tokyo Games as part of the 4x400 women’s relay team, where she ran in the preliminary round. She also won bronze on the 4x400 mixed relay. Before that, she won a pair of gold medals from world championship relay teams.

She was part of a gold-medal mixed relay team earlier this year at the World Athletics Relays — a sign that she would, indeed, be in the mix when coaches look at sprinters to fill out relay pools for Paris.

In doing the research, it wouldn’t have been difficult to find what, until Sunday, had been Ellis’ most famous race.

Halfway through the last lap of that 2018 relay, she is in third place, 30 meters back, barely in the screen. One of the announcers is talking about the runner behind her, from Kentucky, who has unusual closing speed.

A few seconds later, the other announcer hands the race to Purdue. “There’s no way, unless they drop the baton, Purdue’s not going to win this, which we certainly didn’t see.”

Ellis had a couple of things going for her. She knew the Purdue runner was a middle-distance specialist without the same closing kick as she has.

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

After her shocker Sunday, lots of people should.

Lyles halfway to planned double

Noah Lyles locked down the first major step in his quest for an Olympic sprint double Sunday, coming from behind to win the 100 meters in 9.83 seconds to qualify for that race in Paris.

Lyles overcame a slow start to match his personal-best time. He beat 200-meter specialist Kenny Bednarek by .04. Fred Kerley, the 2022 world champion, finished in third and will also go to Paris. Christian Coleman, the 2019 world champ, was in the lead with about 30 meters left but finished fourth.

“Part of the plan, nothing’s changed,” Lyles said after the win. “It might be a shock to everybody else but when you know the goal, you know the goal.”

This marks the first national title in the 100 for Lyles, who has long been a 200-meter specialist but who reimagined his goals after a disappointing third-place finish at the Tokyo Games in that race, then saw the work start paying off.

He won the world championship at 100, 200, and the 4x100 relay last year in Budapest. His 100 time on a cool, still night at Hayward Field matched the time he ran to win worlds. If he can pull off the triple again, he would be in company with Usain Bolt, the Jamaican great who went 3 for 3 all three times he raced at the Olympics.

“If I didn’t get third place in Tokyo, I wouldn’t have that desire, wouldn’t have that fire burning, wouldn’t have accomplished what I accomplished in the past,” he said. “And now, I constantly look to the future with open eyes because anything can happen.”

Lyles, who races next weekend for a spot in the 200, might even be in the mix to win four medals. No. 4 could come in the 4x400, and if he does that, he would be in the company of the likes of Carl Lewis and even Jesse Owens.