Paris Olympics: Quincy Hall unleashes stunning comeback to win men's 400m gold

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SAINT-DENIS, France — Arms pumping, legs churning, face twisted in a grimace, Quincy Hall kept coming even when he appeared hopelessly far behind.

Hall was a distant fourth place in the Olympic 400 meters final and he was running out of purple track between him and the finish line.

With 50 meters to go, he charged past fading former Olympic champion Kirani James. With 40 meters to go, he ran down Jereem Richards like the Trinidadian’s shoes were made of cement. Only pre-race favorite Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain remained ahead of him, and Hall was reeling him in too.

“You can’t outrun a dog,” Hall said. “A dog is going to chase you forever.”

Hall captured Olympic gold on Wednesday night with a display of never-say-die resilience that won’t soon be forgotten. He overtook a stunned Hudson-Smith with 10 meters to go, leaned at the finish line and then stared at the video board to make sure what he thought he had just experienced was real.

Hall's winning time was a personal-best 43.40 seconds, the fourth fastest a man has ever run 400 meters. That was four-hundredths of a second faster than Hudson-Smith, now the fifth fastest in history over 400 meters.

Five of the eight men in the final clocked a sub-44-second time. Zambia's Muzala Samukonga ran a 43.74 to take bronze, his country’s second-ever medal and first since 1996.

When Hall was asked when he knew he’d win, he deadpanned, “As soon as they shot that gun.”

“You can’t get far enough,” he said matter-of-factly. “That’s what I’m known for. If you don’t get far enough away, I’m going to catch you every time.”

The grit that has become Hall’s trademark is a byproduct of the obstacle-laden path he’s taken to the top of his sport. Out of high school, he attended College of Sequoias, a California community college that Hall said had no student housing and no cafeteria. He worked two jobs to pay for tuition, food and a room to sleep at night.

“That’s where I feel like I found myself becoming the dog I say I am,” Hall said.

As a pro, Hall trains without partners — and sometimes by himself. Curtis Allen, the coach he met in junior college, will shout instructions to him by phone.

Hall, a former NCAA champion in the 400 hurdles at South Carolina, began his pro career focusing on that event. For two years, his best 400 hurdles times were fast, but not in the same class as the likes of Rai Benjamin, Karsten Warholms and Alison Dos Santos.

Earlier this summer, Hall told Olympics.com that he was “wasting time” running that event as a pro. On Wednesday night, he called switching his focus to the open 400 two years ago the “best decision of my life.”

As Hall earned a bronze medal at the World Championships in Budapest last year and ran his first sub-44-second times this summer, he developed a reputation for a fearsome kick. He had developed his stamina when he was younger. In high school, he ran everything from the 200, to the 400, to the 800, to the 1,500. Occasionally, he’d do them all at the same meet. In junior college, he’d win the 400, then 20 minutes later line up for the 400 hurdles.

Hudson-Smith said that his coaches had warned him about Hall’s kick over the last 50 meters of a race. As a result, as he put it, he "got the f—- out," pushing the pace early and building a lead on the back stretch.

Blind to the rest of the field in lane eight on Wednesday night, Hall got out faster than he usually does, but it still wasn’t fast enough. The pace was so quick that Hall left himself a lot of ground to make up entering the final 100 meters.

As Hall ran, he said to himself, "Get home, son." He thought about all those grueling practices running by himself. He thought about putting himself through junior college. He thought about his two brothers who died young, his mom and his two young daughters.

Hudson-Smith admitted that he was caught off guard by Hall’s heroic last-gasp charge.

“I thought I had it,” Hudson-Smith said. “If you’re going to win, you’re going to have to take it from me. That’s exactly what he did.”

Last month, during a podcast appearance, Noah Lyles mulled which sprinters he’d include on his dream American 4x400-meter relay. Conspicuously absent from the selections that Lyles made was Hall, the man who won the U.S. title in the 400 at Olympic Trials this past June.

Christopher Bailey was Lyles’ choice to lead off. Lyles designated himself the best option for the second leg, even though he’s primarily known as a short sprinter. Michael Norman and Benjamin were Lyles’ choices for the second-to-last leg and the anchor position.

“The only reason I wouldn’t use the current U.S. champion is that I just don’t think he’d be a starter,” Lyles explained. "Using him on the first leg would almost be like a waste of his talents."

On July 19, Hall tagged Lyles in a post on X and wrote, “My blocks ready anytime you feel like you can beat me in the 400.”

“You was talking [too] much on my name on yo little podcast,” Hall added. “I don’t do the little slick comments and remarks. I line up.”

It’s probably safe to assume Lyles wouldn’t omit Quincy Hall again if he could have a do-over. Hall lined up against seven of the world’s best quarter-milers, spotted a few of them a lead and then roared back to beat all of them.