SAINT-DENIS, France — Quincy Hall became the latest American to electrify Olympic track and field with an out-of-nowhere comeback, sprinting from far behind in the 400 meters Wednesday night to reel in three runners and capture another gold medal for the U.S.
Hall, buried in fourth place as the sprinters rounded the last bend, outran the runner on his outside, then two more to the inside to cross the line in 43.40 seconds, the fourth-fastest time ever. He dropped to the track to do snow angels to celebrate.
“I’ve got determination,” Hall said. “That’s what got me to that line. A lot of hurt, a lot of pain.”
Hall beat Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith by .04 seconds — that’s now the fifth-fastest time in history — and Muzala Samukonga of Zambia finished third.
Hall is the first American since LaShawn Merritt in 2008 to capture gold in the one-lap race. His victory came an evening after American Cole Hocker came from far behind late to beat the favorites in the men’s 1500.
Add in Noah Lyles, whose only lead in his 100-meter thriller came when he crossed the finish line, and these Americans are turning into quite the comeback kids.
Hall’s win came about an hour after Lyles advanced to the final of the 200 meters despite finishing second to Letsile Tebogo in his semifinal. Lyles, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, will race for the gold Thursday.
The 200 is Lyles’ preferred, and better, distance — one at which he had not lost a race in three full years. That streak was snapped at the Stade de France, where Letsile Tebogo of Botswana beat him to the line by crossing in 19.96 seconds, 0.12 faster than runner-up Lyles.
Getting golds in the 100 and 200 at a single Olympics is a rare feat. Usain Bolt accomplished that double at three Olympics in a row - in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. But until the Jamaican, no man had done it since Carl Lewis at Los Angeles in 1984.
Before pulling out his narrow win over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in the 100 final on Sunday night, Lyles didn’t finish first in his heat or his semifinal.
As anyone who pays any attention is well aware, Lyles is a showman who loves the spotlight and enjoys spending time with a microphone.
That’s obvious from his mean-mugging and gesturing on the purple track in Paris before he runs or such statements as the off-hand comparison between track and the NBA that went viral last year: “The thing that hurts me the most is I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘World Champion’ on their head,” Lyles said. “World champion of what? The United States?”
So it raised some eyebrows when Lyles, 27, skipped the interview area after Wednesday’s run, and U.S. team officials said he was heading to the medical tent. His coach, Lance Brauman, told The Associated Press: “He’s fine.”
That might just add a bit more intrigue in the 24 hours until the medals are at stake.
In Wednesday’s 400-meter final, Hall looked out of the running in a race that’s all about pace and, more often than not, the problem is going too fast too soon.
The 26-year-old, who breeds dogs and loves riding horses, was yards behind Hudson-Smith and 2012 champion Kirani James, both to his left, and as they rounded the final curve, and was making up ground on Jareem Richards to his outside for what looked like would be a good battle for bronze.
By the end, James and Richards were afterthoughts, Hall was thrusting his chest at the line to beat the Brit and Samukonga had also come from out of nowhere to take third.
The new champ’s reaction when he crossed the line: “I just won. It’s over. Next four years, I can say I’m Olympic champion.”
Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali defended his title in men’s steeplechase, finishing in 8 minutes, 6.05 seconds for a .36-second win over America’s Kenneth Rooks.
Rooks had the lead heading into the homestretch and was looking to pull off a massive upset, but El Bakkali overtook him. Rooks still beat his personal best by almost 9 seconds to capture the second silver over three Olympics in the event for America.
Evan Jager finished second in 2016.
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