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Olympics-Athletics-Fast-finishing Hall grinds out 400m gold for US

August 07, 2024
Mitch Phillips - Reuters

By Mitch Phillips

PARIS (Reuters) -Quincy Hall produced an incredible late surge to overhaul Briton Matthew Hudson-Smith and take a first Olympic 400 metres gold for the United States since 2008 in another scintillating and dramatic race on Wednesday.

Long-striding Hudson-Smith seemed on course to win his countryโ€™s first gold over the distance since "Chariots of Fire" Eric Liddell in the Paris Games 100 years ago, but Hall swept past to win in a personal best 43.40 seconds and give the U.S. their first triumph since LaShawn Merritt in Beijing.

Hudson-Smith bettered his own European record with 43.44 for silver and Zambia's 21-year-old Muzala Samukonga set his second successive national record in Paris with 43.74 to take bronze.

Hall, who took bronze behind Jamaicaโ€™s Antonio Watson and Hudson-Smith at last yearโ€™s world championship, looked out of contention coming into the final straight, a distant fourth as Hudson-Smith seemed on course for a first global gold of an injury-plagued career.

The American was still well adrift heading into the last 30 metres but somehow found the energy to drive past everyone and become the fourth-fastest man over the distance, behind world record holder Wayde van Niekerk (43.03), Michael Johnson (43.18) and Butch Reynolds (43.29). Hudson-Smith is now fifth.

Fourth-placed Jereem Richards set a Trinidad and Tobago national record of 43.78 and former Olympic champion Kirani James in fifth was also under 44 seconds in 43.87.

"I told you guys I was going to get a gold medal this year and I guess I just showed you I did it," Hall, who switched from the 400 hurdles to focus on the flat, told reporters.

"I know I can win. I knew it today. Thatโ€™s what Iโ€™ve been doing my whole career. I donโ€™t give up. I just grit, I grind. Iโ€™ve got determination. Anything I think will get me to that line, I think of it. A lot of hurt, a lot of pain."

Hudson-Smith, 29, has world silver and bronze and now Olympic silver to his name after a long and often troubled career.

"Sometimes the journey is better than the outcome. My time is going to come," he said.

"I canโ€™t describe the feelings, they are so mixed. I was so close to getting the gold. I got an area record and PB.

"I am so grateful to have everyone that came to watch me. It has been a crazy journey. I am just going to keep building."

(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)

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