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.
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.
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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.
The win came about an hour after Noah Lyles advanced to the final of the 200 meters despite finishing second to Letsile Tebogo in his semifinal. Lyles will race for the gold medal on Thursday.
Hall, the 26-year-old who breeds dogs and loves riding horses, 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.
He was 5 meters 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.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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