Michael Johnson Had 1990 NCAAs To Remember

All eyes were on Michael Johnson of Baylor in the 4×400-meter relay at the 1990 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Johnson rightfully gained the attention at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium after a 43.5 split in the heats in which he slowed to a near tip-toe across the finish line with no reason to expend any more energy than necessary.

That split was the second-fastest in meet history as the Bears clocked 3:01.46, their fastest that year.

Two days later, as the 4×4 final approached, Johnson unintentionally gave the crowd reason for a collective gasp in the 200 meters, stumbling after his normal strong effort on the turn. The miscue allowed BYU’s Frank Fredericks to take the lead, but Johnson was able to recover just before the finish for a win in 20.31, only 0.01 ahead of Fredericks.

It was Johnson’s first NCAA Outdoor title to go along with a pair of wins at the NCAA Indoor Championships over the years.

While all of Johnson’s NCAA titles were then in the 200, he was the undisputed ace in the 4×4, and his Baylor teammates gave him the baton with a slight lead for his collegiate finale on the anchor leg.

Down the backstretch, the Dallas native cruised easily as the hopeful field closed in behind him. In the middle of the final turn, Johnson turned on his jets to leave everyone sucking fumes as he stormed home to win by almost two seconds in 3:01.86.

His split in the final of 43.7 was then the fifth sub-44 relay of his career – at a time when no one else in the world had more than two – as Baylor matched its best-ever team finish of third place (Johnson also ran third leg on the Bears’ third-place 4×100 unit).

Johnson’s career, of course, would then go into orbit, winning 12 Olympic or World Championships gold medals over the next decade. His 19.32 half-lapper to win the 1996 Olympic gold is the single-largest improvement on the event’s world record, and his 42.91 anchor leg on the U.S. 4×400 team at the 1993 Worlds remains the fastest-ever recorded.