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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 Jamaica’s Antonio Watson and
Hudson-Smith at last year’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
meters 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. That’s what I’ve been doing
my whole career. I don’t give up. I just grit, I grind. I’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 can’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) [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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