Kendall Ellis 'blindsided' by late scratch in women's relay final - ESPN

PARIS — American sprinter Kendall Ellis, the reigning U.S. 400-meter champion and a relay specialist, said that four minutes before Saturday night's 4x400-meter final, Team USA's head women's relay coach informed her that she would not be running in the final.

«I feel very proud of the team that was put out there. I think they ran incredible,» Ellis told ESPN late Saturday night. «I also feel disappointed and lied to and embarrassed. I feel like I was blindsided because I was told one thing this morning and, for hours, thought I was running in the final. It seems everyone know besides me.»

Ellis said she woke up Saturday morning to a text from relay coach Mechelle Freeman telling her she would not be running in the final. Ellis said she then asked Freeman for an in-person meeting with an athlete liaison present at a hotel near the Olympic Village.

There, she said, Freeman expressed concerns about Ellis' inconsistency at the distance — she won the 400 meters at U.S. trials but was relegated to the repechage round here in Paris — before Ellis made a case for why she should reconsider.

«At the end of the conversation,» Ellis said, "[Freeman] said, 'You seem ready. I'm going to put you on this relay in the third leg.' She told me to pick up my uniform for the finals. I said, 'OK' and got to the stadium at 6:15 under the impression I was running."

USATF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ellis said she began warming up shortly before check-in for the race when another U.S. coach came up to her and said he was «really sorry» to hear she wasn't running in the relay. Ellis relayed the encounter to her personal coach, Quincy Watts, who pulled Freeman aside. Ellis then overheard Freeman inform Watts that she was