Coming down the straightaway toward the finish line of the 400 meters, Bryshon Nellum and Ashton Eaton kicked so intensely that they grimaced. The two crossed simultaneously as the crowd roared. Not knowing which of them had crossed first, the two immediately looked up to the scoreboard.
It was a photo finish.
While the two waited for the official mark to be announced, Eaton turned to the crowd and yelled, “That was fun!”
The victory went to Nellum, who finished in 46.26 seconds, .01 ahead of Eaton, the world record holder and defending gold medalist in the decathlon.
“I felt that I got him at the end of the race, but Ashton Eaton, man, is one heck of an athlete,” Nellum said. “For him to come and run the quarter as well as nine other events, it’s amazing.”
“Do I think I won it?” Eaton asked. “Ha. I looked at the board and I was like I don’t know, that’s pretty close. But, uh, ah it doesn’t matter.”
Nellum is in his second year of competing professionally for Nike after winning silver in the men’s 4×400 at the 2012 London Olympic Games where he carried the flag in closing ceremonies. He graduated from USC in 2013, and in that same year, he set a personal best in the 400 at Hayward with a 44.73.
“USAs are this year, so I wanted to get a feel of what I have to be up against in the next month or so,” Nellum said. “Plus, I love this track. I ran one of my best times here. I had one of my best meets here as well. I made the Olympic team here, so you know there is no other track that’s better than here in Eugene.”
Eaton medaled in the 2012 London Olympics, too, after graduating from Oregon in 2010. He has set personal records and broken world records multiple times while competing at Hayward Field. And earlier in the meet, Eaton placed second in the men’s 100 meters with a wind-aided 10.20. He beat his personal best by .01.
In the 400, Eaton was slightly ahead coming into the front stretch, but Nellum pulled even with about 15 meters to go.
“It hurt more than I thought it should,” Eaton said. “I was just talking with Bryshon after and he was our first force of the year. And typically I run a little bit faster, but, uh, I don’t know. Maybe it was just the wind or something.”
