By Emma Childs
Growing up, Devon Allen had always wanted to compete at the Prefontaine Classic. On Saturday, he’ll fulfill that dream. He will compete in the 110-meter hurdles for the third time this season after recovering from a torn ACL injury suffered during the 2016 football season.
Allen placed second at the Oregon Twilight Meet just a few weeks back. He was frustrated that his knee was stiffening up at the end. Allen competed in Jamaica last week and said he’s starting to feel better about his races.
“This week and last week in training … night and day difference with just being able to warm up a lot easier and feeling better in general,” Allen said.
Allen is not favored to win, as he will be racing against the reigning Olympic gold medalist, Omar McLeod; Aries Merrit, the current world record holder with a time of 12.80; David Oliver, who has has raced the Prefontaine Classic 10 times and is the meet record holder; and Dimitri Bascou of France, the reigning bronze Olympic medalist.
Allen refers to himself as just “some kid from Eugene” when facing the field of 110-meter hurdlers.
“There are so many amazing hurdlers,” he said. “I think that everybody is going to run fast, so hopefully I just run faster.”
Allen raced for the Oregon Ducks up until the end of the 2016 football season, when he decided to forego his remaining NCAA eligibility to turn professional in track.
He had been recruited into the University of Oregon as a wide receiver. He tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus of his right leg playing in the 2015 Rose Bowl and had to sacrifice his 2016 outdoor track and field season.
Last September, during the Ducks’ loss to Nebraska, he tore his left ACL. Allen decided to push football on to the back burner and solely focus on track.
Not a lot has changed for the 22 year-old as he is still training in Eugene with the same coach, Jamie Cook, and the same training partner, Johnathan Cabral. The only thing that has changed is that he is no longer training with the University of Oregon team.
“Everything’s pretty much the same … I get up and go to classes at 8 a.m. and then train and then go to my afternoon classes,” he said nonchalantly.
The injury has affected his training. But just seven months after his last reconstructive surgery, Allen raced in the Oregon Twilight Meet. That was three weeks ago, and he placed second to Cabral.
As a Hayward crowd favorite, he will be the underdog heading into Saturday’s race. McLeod and Merritt headline the field.
“He’s a good guy and a good friend,” McLeod said. “We haven’t competed against each other since Rio, and we both bring out the best in each other. Tomorrow he is going to have the home advantage, but that’s fine—I’m just going to focus on me.”
Allen is only a year younger than McLeod and expects a long career of racing against him.
“You know it’s Jamaica and USA, which is perfect,” Allen said. “I think it’s good for the sport. I think the competition’s going to make it more popular.”
Tomorrow’s race will be his third meet since Rio. “Pretty much an Olympic final you could say, ” he said, smiling.
