SAINT-DENIS, France — (AP) — As the flash of red, white and blue streaked past one sprinter — then the next, then the next — the American man delivering the latest out-of-nowhere comeback on the track said he had one thing going through his mind: “Get home, son! Get home, son!”
Quincy Hall got home in first, then fell to the ground and did snow angels.
Just another routine day in a come-from-behind kind of Olympics for the U.S.A.
Hall reeled in three runners down the stretch of the 400-meter final Wednesday to deliver another heart-stopping win for his country at the Stade de France. He finished in 43.40 seconds, beating Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith by .04 seconds; they are now the fourth- and fifth-fastest men in history at the distance.
Hall's late push came the evening after American Cole Hocker rocked his sport by coming from way back to beat the favorites in a memorable men's 1500.
Add in Noah Lyles, whose only lead in his 100-meter thriller Sunday came at the exact point he crossed the finish line, and it's easy to see a pattern.
“I’ve got determination,” Hall said. “That’s what got me to that line. A lot of hurt, a lot of pain.”
The 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 will race for the gold medal Thursday.
Things looked bad for Hall, a 26-year-old who starred at South Carolina and who breeds dogs, as the eight sprinters approached the final curve.
He was 5 or so meters behind Hudson-Smith and 2012 champion Kirani James, both to his left, and as they rounded the bend, Hall was making up ground on Jareem Richards to his outside. It looked to be shaping up as a good battle for bronze.
With his arms pumping low and wide and his head bobbing, Hall passed them all, then thrust his chest out to beat the Brit. Hall fell to the ground and scissored his arms and legs back and forth — snow angels in 80-degree weather on the bright purple track.
“I just wanted to keep doing what my coach told me to do, just keep driving and keep driving and get home,” Hall said.
Lost in that chaos was Samukonga, the Zambian, who also came from nowhere to take third.
Hall is the first American since LaShawn Merritt in 2008 to capture gold in the one-lap race that the country dominated for decades before that. He joins the likes of Michael Johnson, Jeremy Wariner and Lee Evans among the champions the United States has produced in the most tactical sprint on the track program.
“I knew these guys would get out try to see who they could throw off their race,” he said.
Turns out, not him.
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.
Nina Kennedy’s title in pole vault gave Australia its 18th gold medal of the Paris Games, an Olympic record for the country.
Kennedy cleared 4.95 meters to beat defending champion Katie Moon of the U.S.
One of France’s up-and-coming track stars, Clement Ducos, outraced Tokyo bronze medalist Alison dos Santos to the line to finish second in the semifinals of the men’s 400 hurdles.
The prize for Ducos: A rematch with world-record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway, who won that heat easily in 47.67.
Warholm and American Rai Benjamin are expected to vie for the title in Saturday's final. Dos Santos, the Brazilian bronze medalist in a super-fast final three years ago in Tokyo, will also be in the lineup.
“Completely crazy what I’ve done here,” Ducos said. “I’m not scared of anything. There are people around me racing really well and posting really good times, but I have to believe I can get a medal."
Roje Stona won gold for Jamaica in the men's discus, setting an Olympic record with a personal-best of 70 meters (229 feet, 8 inches) on his fourth attempt. That gives traditional sprint powerhouse Jamaica four medals in field events so far at the Paris Games — compared to just one on the track.
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