After winning the biggest race of his life, all Devon Allen wanted to do was find his family.
A two-sport star who has already registered too many big moments to count on both the track and football field, Allen delivered the most dramatic performance of his career Saturday evening with a win in the 110 meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field.
Allen’s winning time of 13.03 seconds was the second fastest in the world this year, and after crossing the finish line he celebrated for all of ten seconds before his eyes darted towards the crowd beyond the finish line. He dashed over to the stands and scaled the fence as he tried to find his parents.
“He just was elated,” Devon’s father, Louis Allen, said. “For one, I was looking for him, trying to figure out where he was going… He knew the general area I was in, but he was trying to get to the area where the closest fence was and come back to where we were sitting.”
Just 18 months after a knee injury at the Rose Bowl wiped out his 2015 track season and hindered his football season the following year, Allen became the first active Duck to qualify for the Olympics since Andrew Wheating and Galen Rupp each did so in 2008.
He used a leaning surge after the final hurdle to pull away from runner-up Ronnie Ash and third place Jeff Porter, and as Allen crossed the finish line, the Hayward crowd went ballistic.
“I couldn’t even hear,” Allen said “It felt like a football game; it felt like Autzen Stadium.”
Allen’s victory margin of 0.18 seconds was the largest ever at the U.S. Olympic Trials. When he heads to Rio, he will become the first collegian to represent America in the event in almost four decades.
Regardless of his performance at the Olympic games, Allen will have a choice to make when he returns to Eugene. A redshirt sophomore, Allen has two years of football eligibility remaining. Should he return to play for Oregon and head coach Mark Helfrich this fall, Allen figures to be an integral member of the Ducks’ wide receiver unit.
Devon Allen and Louis Allen both said they don’t know what Devon’s future will hold once he returns from Rio.
“Devon loves the sport that’s in season,” Louis Allen said. “I would assume that when track is over, when the Olympic are over, he’ll probably focus on football again and he’ll be out here on Saturday playing with his teammates.”
Allen said it himself that there are a lot of moving parts to factor into the decision. He is in a league of his own this year as far as the football-Olympic doubles goes. Buffalo Bills wideout and former Olympic finalist Marquise Goodwin failed to qualify for Rio in the long jump, and USC multi-sport star Adoree Jackson finished tenth in the same event.
Pro football players such as Goodwin, Jeff Demps and Lawrence Okoye all competed at the Olympics in 2012, but Allen is the first football player in recent memory who would be considered a heavy candidate to medal at the games.
“I’m just excited to have the opportunity,” Allen “I still love football; I still love playing… It’s a big passion for me, I’ve been playing since I was five. It’s hard for me to think about that yet.”
As for now, Allen is undefeated at Hayward Field and a two-time U.S. champion at the age of 21. He’s looking forward to traveling outside the U.S. again — he said he’s only been to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
A win in Rio could ultimately shift his career path, but Allen simply has his sights set on reaching another PR as his family watches on, just as they always have.
“Today was a really exciting moment for me,” Allen said. “Something that I want to share with my family. I’m glad that they could come and be here. They’re gonna be in Rio too, so hopefully I can share that same moment with them there.”
Follow Jarrid Denney On Twitter @jarrid_denney