SAINT-DENIS, France — Quincy Hall became the latest American to electrify Olympic track and field with an out-of-nowhere comeback Wednesday night, sprinting from far behind in the 400 meters to reel in three runners and capture the gold medal.
Hall, buried in fourth place as the runners 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, then 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 for bronze.
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 1,500 meters.
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 will race in the final 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.
“I just won. It’s over,” Hall said. “Next four years, I can say I’m Olympic champion.”
Also on the track Wednesday, Soufiane El Bakkali defended his gold in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase for Morocco’s first medal of the Games.
El Bakkali clocked a time of 8 minutes, 6.05 seconds to become the first back-to-back winner of the event since Finland’s Volmari Iso-Hollo in 1932 and 1936.
American Kenneth Rooks ran a personal best of 8:06.41 to win the silver medal, while Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot claimed bronze.
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.
Ethiopian world record-holder Lamecha Girma suffered a late fall after hitting one of the barriers. He landed hard on the track and was carried off on a stretcher.
Earlier, Jamaica’s Roje Stona won gold in men’s discus with an Olympic-record throw of 70 meters, upsetting Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna, the world record-holder who had hoped to follow in his father’s footsteps to become Olympic champion.
The 21-year-old Alekna, whose throw of 69.97 meters broke his father’s mark, had to settle for silver, while Australia’s Matthew Denny, who finished fourth in Tokyo, claimed the bronze.
In women’s pole vault, Australia’s Nina Kennedy soared to the gold medal, clearing the bar at 4.90 meters to beat American Katie Moon, who won the gold in Tokyo and shared the title with Kennedy at this year’s world championships.
Moon cleared 4.85 meters for the silver, while Canada’s Alysha Newman went over the same height but was awarded bronze due to more missed jumps.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
