Paris Friday A.M.: Bryce Hoppel into Olympic 800 Final, Quincy Wilson Struggles But USA 4×400 Still Qualifies
By Jonathan Gault
PARIS – The final morning session of 2024 Olympic track & field at the Stade de France was held today and the highlight was the men’s 800 semifinal round, which saw American Bryce Hoppel punch his ticket to his first Olympic 800m final by finishing 2nd in the third semi in 1:43.41. Hobbs Kessler, running his fifth race in eight days, and Brandon Miller, who had to emerge from the repechage round just to make the semis, missed out on advancing.
The US men’s 4×400 also got a serious scare as 16-year-old Quincy Wilson, who became the youngest US track & field Olympian ever, struggled mightily, splitting 47.27 on the leadoff leg to hand off in 7th place. Fortunately for Team USA, veteran Vernon Norwood picked up the slack with a 43.54 second leg to put them back in contention, with Bryce Deadmon and Chris Bailey moving up on the last two legs to move the Americans into the third and final automatic qualifying spot in the heat in 2:59.15.
Six quick takes from Friday morning below.
Bryce Hoppel’s confidence could not be higher, says he would be disappointed with “anything less than gold”
Back in March at the World Indoors in Glasgow, it was hard not to notice Hoppel’s confidence through the rounds. He opened with a 1:46 in the first round, ran 1:45 in the semis, then 1:44 in the final for gold, and never seemed in doubt that he would be able to run what it took to win.
Hoppel has exuded that same confidence in Paris. He said he expects a fast final – Hoppel is not sure if he will push it himself but expects Emmanuel Wanyonyi likely will – and is not concerned about bouncing back from his 1:43.41 today with no days of rest before the final on Saturday.
“With where my fitness is and training with altitude, I think I only get faster with the rounds,” Hoppel said. “…It’s going to be exciting, especially for times. I feel like you can push it. Take us through in 48 and it will be a fun race…I never really felt fatigued through the whole thing [though] the last 100 is a different thing – either way, you’re going to be sprinting pretty quickly…I want it to be fast just because I’ve had to sit on the sidelines watching guys run 1:41. I think it’s my turn for that. It’s time for a medal on the Olympic stage, and honestly, I’d be disappointed with anything less than gold.”
Hoppel also said that the Team USA gold rush has him feeling ready to bring home another tomorrow night.
“Watching Cole [Hocker], it sparks a little national pride in you,” Hoppel said. “It’s pretty cool stuff to see everyone doing incredible. It’s an incredible culture back in the village and at the team lounge right now.
Hoppel has looked very, very good all season. He has won five of his six 800m finals this year, but the concern is that the one loss was a crushing defeat to Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, who blew him away by more than a full second in Stockholm on June 2. Hoppel attributed that to being his first race in Europe after long travel, but Sedjati has stayed red hot since then, running 1:41 twice and breezing through the rounds in Paris.
Plus Wanyonyi has also run 1:41 twice this year, Gabriel Tual is in the midst of a breakout year and will have the home French support, and reigning world champ Marco Arop looked good today in winning the second semi. Hoppel could run an incredible race and still miss the podium. But he does not expect that to happen.
The final could be an all-timer
The 800 semis are famously brutal, cutting down from 24 men to 8, but today’s races were surprisingly chalky. Of the four fastest men in the world this year, all four made the Olympic final, led by the 1:41 trio of Sedjati, Wanyonyi, and Tual plus 1:42.04 man Mohamed Attaoui of Spain. Add in the world outdoor champ in Arop and the world indoor champ in Hoppel and it was brutal to advance.
The unlikeliest finalist was 22-year-old Brit Max Burgin. An age-group phenom who ran 1:45 at 17, Burgin’s pro career has been stymied by injuries every year, and he did not race at all in 2024 until the British trials in late June. But Burgin finished 2nd in that race to make the team, and today ran a pb of 1:43.50 to finish 3rd behind Wanyonyi and Hoppel in the third semi and advance on time.
With so many fast men and a willing front runner in Wanyonyi, times are expected to be fast. But we expected very fast times in the women’s 800 too, and it was clear in that race that running the semis and final on back-to-back days (a rarity at major outdoor champs) was a challenge. If times are a bit slower on Saturday night in the men’s final, that is likely why.
Hobbs Kessler is rightly proud of his incredible 2024 season
Kessler said he did not feel great on his warmup, battling stomach problems, and added it was more difficult doubling back from the 1500 in Paris than it was at the Olympic Trials in Eugene. When the time came for Kessler to kick in the final straight, he had nothing and was 6th in 1:46.20.
But overall he was proud of a 2024 campaign that has easily been the best of his young career. Kessler began the year with pbs of 1:45.80 and 3:32.61 for 800 and 1500 and had never made a US team on the track. Now Kessler’s pbs stand at 1:43.64 and 3:29.45, and he has made three US teams – one in the 1500 indoors (where he earned a World Indoor bronze) and one each in the 800 and 1500 at these Olympics. Kessler has also been incredibly consistent – until he finished 5th in the deepest Olympic 1500 final ever, he had not been out of the top 3 in any race all year. And at only 21 years old, Kessler believes he is not done improving.
“I got better physically, got better mentally, established myself higher up in the pecking order for middle distance,” Kessler said. “So super proud. It’s been quite a year and I think we have the tools to build on it next year and do even better.”
While Kessler is physically fitter, he also said he made a concerted effort to work on the subtler aspects of racing and feels he has made great progress in those areas in 2024.
“I really was trying to improve my mental game and positioning, effort distribution race after race,” Kessler said. “So really actively trying to get better. I know that sounds obvious, but before I was being a little more passive with my approach.”
Brandon Miller gave it his best shot
Miller was in the unfortunate position of running the 800 on the third straight day due to the repechage round. He looked good in that race, running 1:44.21 to advance, and said he felt his legs were good enough to compete today. But he found himself boxed in off the final turn in 5th place and unable to move up.
Even if Miller had had a clean run at the end, there’s no guarantee he would have advanced. And he did eventually have a window to move up in the last 50 meters. But at that point, he was tired and could not take advantage.
“I thought it would open up,” Miller said. “I got caught in a box, so to speak. I was trying to figure out where I could go, but it just didn’t open up for me as well as I wanted to…I think I would have had it if it opened up a little earlier. Obviously, coming down the last 100, the further you come down, the less energy you have.”
Overall, Miller said he was proud of his ability to bounce back from the repechage and contend for a spot in the final today.
“I was dealing with some stuff the first round, but that’s the cards we were dealt,” Miller said. “We came back, we fought, and we competed today.”
Men’s 4×400 prelims: USA needs heroic leg from Norwood to advance
There was a lot of attention on the men’s 4×400 prelims because Team USA relay coach Mike Marsh elected to use 16-year-old high schooler Quincy Wilson, the youngest American track & field Olympian ever, to lead off the race. Wilson entered the Olympics in fine form, having run a 44.20 pb in his last race on July 19, but he was well off his game today, splitting just 47.27 and handing off in seventh place in the eight-team heat.
Wilson said afterwards he was not at 100% today but would not elaborate on what, specifically, was bothering him.
“To be honest, I’d rather not answer that question,” Wilson said. “It’s a lot of different things.”
That left the US with a lot of ground to make up, but the 32-year-old Norwood, a veteran of US relays, was up to the task, splitting a 43.54 – the second-fastest leg of the race – to bring the US back into contact with the leaders. Even Norwood admitted he was a bit in awe of Wilson, half his age, competing at the Games.
“I was kind of in the moment because I’m watching a 16-year-old running the Olympics, Olympic history,” Norwood said. “So I was very proud. And I’m just looking and then like, oh, [I have to] snap back in and let me get the stick and get it going.”
Bryce Deadmon (44.20) and Chris Bailey (44.14) then did their jobs with a pair of solid legs to bring the US to third place (2:59.15), enough to advance automatically behind heat winners Botswana (2:57.76 with Letsile Tebogo on leadoff the morning o just three hours of sleep after winning 200 gold) and runners-up Great Britain (2:58.88).
The US should still be favored for gold
The US had to rely on Wilson in this prelim in part because Michael Norman ran poorly in the 400 final (last in 45.62) and could not be counted on to deliver a reliable leg here. But the Americans should have fewer issues in the final, where the US can sub in Olympic 400 champ Quincy Hall and 400 hurdles star Rai Benjamin, likely for Wilson and Deadmon. It is hard to imagine anyone beating that team.
