Gabrielle Thomas and Quincy Hall take First Time Gold
Shot By: Patrick Smith, Getty Images
On August 6. and 7. we got to see another set of track and field finals that continued an already exciting week for the American team. On the men’s side, there was the 400-meter final that featured Quincy Hall, Michael Norman, and Christopher Bailey.
The women’s 200-meter final took place as well featuring three more Americans Brittany Brown, Mckenzie Long, and Gabrielle Thomas. Thomas was the American favorite coming from the Olympic trials but had to match up against the new women's 100-meter champion, Julien Alfred.
Alfred went into the race with a chance to complete the sprint double.
At the sound of the sprinters gun the women were off Thomas in lane 7 and Alfred on her outside shoulder in lane 8. As they all got out and started their run leaning into the curve there was no distinctive leader.
Then the camera panned to them hitting the break of the curve and Thomas started to pull away. With powerful long strides, she stormed down that final stretch and there was no catching her. In just her second Olympics she had earned a gold medal.
Shot By: Steph Chambers, Getty Images
She knew it too, there was a clear rush of emotions as she crossed the line. Her jaw dropped and she seemed to be in complete shock as she had just won on the biggest stage.
Right behind her was Alfred who had the fastest reaction time out of the field. But the performance would be just a quarter of a second shy of securing the sprint double.
Brown was a first-time Olympian participating in the final and found her way to a bronze medal in the event.
Shot By: Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters
In the 400-meter final, Hall had come into the race as a favorite after great performances in the opening round and semifinal. But with 200 meters to go it seemed like he was fading and the competition would stop him just short of grabbing a medal.
Drawing lane 8 he had a slightly tougher run and had to be one of the athletes chased on the stagger. Halfway through the final turn, Hall was not falling any longer he found himself in fourth place going into the last 100 meters. Seeing the expression on his face, he was digging deep to give everything he had left in the last quarter of the race.
One by one by one Hall chased them down as the distance between him and the finish line got smaller with every stride. Each one pushed him past a new country, first Grenada to his inside, and within the same step, it felt like he passed Trinidad and Tobago. The comeback had not ended yet he still had one more country to run down.
Great Britain, specifically runner Matthew Hudson-Smith, had been leading for most of the race. With the crowd's intensity, there was no way that he wasn’t feeling the pressure put on by Hall. Within those final 10 meters, the race was decided.
Shot By: David J. Phillip, AP Photo
Hall had just made a full comeback switching from a position where he wouldn’t have placed to setting a new personal best and winning a gold medal.
The first time Olympian went out and produced an unbelievable performance, that everyone who witnessed won't soon forget. He was the only one of his American teammates that made the podium in this event.
