Olympic Trials Men’s 400 — Quincy Hall Just Kept Coming

BY ANY MEASURE Quincy Hall came to the Olympic Trials as one of the favorites in the 400, but he still managed to fly under quite a few radars.

By the time the 25-year-old Hall took the line Monday night, having established himself as the man to beat through qualifying, a big lens was on 16-year-old Quincy Wilson, while ‘22 Worlds champ Michael Norman, in his comeback to the 400 after last year’s troubled foray in the 100, rated as the nominal favorite based on pedigree and coming in with the season’s best time.

Then the gun went off and Hall, way out in Lane 8, kept flying under the radar as Norman (lane 5) tried to storm the field in the first 200. The arc of Hall’s career, though, indicates he’s going to keep coming and in the biggest moment of his career, he was relentless. From 6th at the 100, then 5th at the 200 and 3rd at the 300, Hall kept working, kept reeling back Norman.

The long chase came to fruition in the final 50 meters, as Norman’s fade coincided with Hall’s charge that carried him to Paris with his first national championship. Nothing about it should have been surprising, as Hall struck bronze at last year’s Worlds in Budapest in his first year concentrating on the 400 instead of the hurdles, then was the leading qualifier in the first round and semis, but the big personal best of 44.17 did seem ahead of schedule.

“To get home, son. That is all I told myself,” Hall said following the race. “That’s the dog in me.”

Norman, meanwhile, mostly got away with going out faster than he eventually was able to handle, as he faded to 44.41 but hung on at the tape for 2nd over fast-closing Chris Bailey (42.42), who in turn outleaned Vernon Norwood (44.47) for the third spot in Paris. Norman led from the 100 mark to 350 and had several steps on the field entering the stretch — officially he was 0.44 ahead of Hall at the 300 — but couldn’t hold it.

Wilson, meanwhile, only made his star brighter with a 6th-place finish in 44.94. He qualified fourth in the semis with a personal best 44.59.

Wilson’s moment seems destined to come, but this day was about Hall. An NCAA champion in the 400 hurdles for South Carolina in 2019, he moved over to the 400 last season and was 3rd at the World Trials, then 3rd at Worlds (along with gold in the 4 x 400). He was building toward his big day for a…