Fresno State’s Robinson Equaled WR In 1957

The 220-yard low hurdles figured to be special at the 1957 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

It did not disappoint.

Two of the world’s best were ready for their sixth hurdle race of the meet, with this 220H doubling as the finale of the first NCAA meet held at Texas’ Memorial Stadium in Austin.

Ancel Robinson of Fresno State entered with the fastest time at 22.3 – tied for second fastest in world history on a straightaway – while Elias Gilbert of Winston-Salem owned the world’s fastest-ever on a race using the curve, having run 22.8 the weekend prior in winning the NAIA Championships.

Both looked for a measure of redemption after the 120-yard hurdles an hour earlier. Robinson was second – albeit in a PR 14.0 – behind the 13.6 of Lee Calhoun, the reigning Olympic champion and teammate of Gilbert, who hit the last two hurdles and finished last. Gilbert had beaten Calhoun and equaled the WR of 13.4 the previous month.

Robinson had his usual rocket start and led by some four yards after the sixth of ten hurdles. It also proved to be right in Robinson’s wheelhouse as the race was held on the straightaway. Gilbert finished strongly, but couldn’t catch Robinson, whose time of 22.2 equaled the world record set by Dave Sime of Duke one year earlier.

Robinson’s time also bettered the meet record of 22.3 set 10 years earlier by Harrison Dillard when it was a then-WR. Gilbert’s time of 22.5 was his fastest-ever on a straightaway set of hurdles.

Robinson – a Korean War veteran – was surprised at the time. “I didn’t know I was going that fast,” he said. “I took off like a jackrabbit and went as hard as I could.”