In a smash-hit Olympic debut, American Quincy Corridor erupted down the house stretch to take dwelling gold within the males’s 400m remaining, profitable in a lifetime greatest 43.40 seconds.
“I informed you guys I used to be going to get a gold medal this 12 months,” Corridor mentioned. “I do know I can win. I knew it at this time. That’s what I’ve been doing my entire profession.”
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Corridor’s victory got here because of an epic comeback. The 25-year-old appeared down and out after 300 meters. He was visibly grimacing as he fell behind Matthew Hudson-Smith, Muzala Samukonga and Jereem Richards. However combating by ache, the Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, native completely tore down the ultimate 100m to win gold in 43.40 seconds.
“I used to be simply considering, ‘Get dwelling, sir. Get dwelling, sir,'” Corridor mentioned. “I don’t hand over. I simply grit, I grind. I’ve obtained willpower.
Something I believe will get me to that line, I consider it. A whole lot of damage, numerous ache.
This Olympic title can also be the primary for an American man within the 400m because the 2008 Beijing Video games, when LaShawn Merritt took dwelling gold. Corridor’s time is the fifth-fastest ever within the occasion and quickest because the world file set by South African Wayde van Niekerk in 2016.
American Quincy Corridor celebrates after profitable the lads’s 400m.
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Nice Britain’s Hudson-Smith took bronze in his second Olympic look — he beforehand completed eighth in 2016. Now, the Brit has catapulted to the rostrum with a lightning time of 43.44 seconds. Zambia’s Samukonga earned bronze, the primary males’s 400m medal for his nation, with a time of 43.74. People Chris Bailey and Michael Norman completed sixth and eighth, respectively.
Corridor’s tenacious blitz down the house stretch will certainly stand as one of many iconic moments of those Olympics. One month after profitable his first nationwide title, Corridor has Olympic title No. 1 on the heels of an unimaginable 2023-24 glow-up. Corridor entered 2023 as a 400m hurdles specialist (he was the 2019 NCAA 400m hurdles champion for South Carolina), however Corridor elected to shift to the flat 400m in 2023.
“That call modified my life,” Corridor mentioned minutes after his gold medal sprint.
Corridor introduced himself as a legit 400m contender when he took bronze at 2023 Worlds. He then posted the world’s high time in 2024 4 weeks in the past, posting a 43.80 on the Monaco Diamond League occasion.
In his debut on the Olympic Video games, it has all come collectively for Corridor, who merely would not let gold slip away.
“It’s over,” Corridor mentioned. “For the following 4 years I can say I’m Olympic champion.”