(CNN) Midway through a cup semifinal at the 2018 Las Vegas Sevens, Perry Baker found himself caught on his own try line with three Fijians hovering over him.
His USA Eagles side trailed by a try -- get tackled, concede possession, and the game could be out of reach. But what happened next was rugby sevens history.
Baker evaded one tackle and then tried to run around another two; he stopped, stepped, started again, before putting foot to floor and letting his blistering speed do the rest. With Fijian defenders trailing in his wake, he scorched across the turf for one of the greatest tries the game has ever seen.
The home crowd roared, and suddenly the match turned. USA won 19-7 and went on to beat Argentina in the final to lift its second ever major sevens trophy.
Four months down the line, the USA will again play a tournament on home soil, but this time the stakes are even higher. The Sevens World Cup takes place in San Francisco from July 20-22, and the Eagles are eying glory after easing past Wales 35-0 with Baker bagging a brace.
"After we won Vegas, the first thing people started saying was, 'Are you ready for the World Cup? You guys can win the World Cup," Baker, who's amassed 170 tries on the Sevens World Series circuit, tells CNN Sport. "It gave us a little bit of confidence that we can do this.
"I'm very excited and so are my teammates. It's been a long time coming, the whole entire year was based around the World Cup. It's finally here now. It's exciting times for the sport itself, and getting to play on home soil for the second time in a year is great."
Rugby Sevens 2017-18
Victory for South Africa and a fifth-place finish for Fiji saw the Blitzboks take the 2017-18 Sevens World Series title by just two points.
A runner-up finish for Australia in Paris was enough to secure the overall women's title ahead of rivals New Zealand.
Portia Woodman bagged two tries in the Paris final, which ended 33-7 in favor of the Black Ferns. Despite three tournament wins, however, they couldn't defend their championship title.
Fiji's Josua Tuisova looks for an offload in the final of the London Sevens against South Africa. His side ran out
21-17 victors to take control of the series.
New Zealand's Black Ferns inflicted the heaviest ever series defeat on Australia in the final of the Canada Sevens, scoring eight tries in a 46-0 demolition of their rivals.
Fiji moved to the top of the standings with a tense victory over Australia in
Singapore.
New Zealand's Black Ferns backed up
Commonwealth gold with silverware in Japan after a 24-12 victory over France in final.
Japan gained a berth in next year's Sevens World Series with a 19-14 victory over Germany in the qualifier event.
Fiji fans celebrate in
Vancouver where their country secured its second win of the Sevens World Series.
Kenya was the tournament's surprise package. Playing in its first final since Singapore in 2016, Shujaa eventually went down 31-12 to Fiji.
There was an historic result in
Vegas as the Eagles lifted the trophy for the first time on home soil with a 28-0 victory over Argentina in the final. It was just the second title USA have won, the first coming in London in 2015.
Fiji overturned a first-half deficit against South Africa to
claim a first title of the season in Hamilton -- the first time the town has hosted a Sevens World Series tournament after the New Zealand leg was moved from Wellington.
Australia's women continued their storming start to the season
in Sydney. Tim Walsh's side became the first team ever to go a whole tournament without conceding a point.
There was more good news to come for home fans that weekend in Sydney. The men
eased past South Africa 29-0 in the final, with Ben O'Donnell (pictured) grabbing a brace.
The All Blacks claimed a first tournament victory since March 2016 in Cape Town,
toppling Argentina in the final.
Having finished second to New Zealand in last season's overall standings, Australia's women got their campaign off to winning ways by
overwhelming USA 34-0 in the opening tournament in Dubai.
Last year's world champion South Africa started this season as they ended the last. The Blitzboks
saw off New Zealand 24-12 in the UAE to win the first piece of silverware up for grabs in the men's competition.
READ: Record-breaking crowds expected at Sevens World Cup
Speed kings
The likes of South Africa and the Fiji are amongst the favorites to take the men's title, but they'd be wise to keep an eye on the US.
Crowds of close to 100,000 are expected at the AT&T Park this weekend and most will be cheering for the Eagles. Lining up with Baker will be Carlin Isles, often considered the fastest man the sport has ever seen.
"If you look at our team, we have pace pretty much across the board," says Baker.
"You have teams that have speed -- you have Rosko Specman [of South Africa], you have Luke Morgan [of Wales], you have guys with pace. But name another guy that can do that for those guys?
"If you have two guys that have pace and can possibly be on the field at the same time? Then it can be an advantage, having Carlin Isles and myself on the field at the same time."
READ: Uganda rugby star Solomon Okia revels in World Cup dream
Which leads to the obvious question -- who would win in a footrace?
"We've never raced but Carlin would get it," laughs Baker. "Yeah, Carlin would win -- I'm an old man."
An old man perhaps in rugby sevens terms, but at 32 there's still plenty of running left for Baker -- there are more seasons on the World Series before build-up starts for the Olympics in 2020.
Considering he penned his first contract with the Eagles in 2014, what Baker's achieved in the past four years is hardly believable.
The man known as "speedstick" is his country's top try scorer for sevens. He bagged more tries, 57, than anyone else in the 2016-17 season, a feat that saw him crowned world's best sevens player.
Perry Baker and Carlin Isles at the 2015 London Sevens, which the US team won.
Learning the game
Having been released by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011, Baker came to rugby the hard way. After enrolling in the Tiger Academy in Columbus, Ohio, he juggled his sporting career with a range of jobs in urinalysis, pest control, and security for a sorority.
He's always been fast, but using his speed on a rugby field would require something else.
"I needed to learn the game," says Baker. "I couldn't just get out there and think I could run around because I'm fast. I wanted to learn the game first.
"I was with Tiger academy for a year, but in that year I basically did rugby every day.
"An entire summer, every weekend we were out of town playing rugby. And once the season ended I went and played a little bit of fifteens. Then when it was snowing we were playing indoor touch."
Rugby Sevens 2017-18
Victory for South Africa and a fifth-place finish for Fiji saw the Blitzboks take the 2017-18 Sevens World Series title by just two points.
A runner-up finish for Australia in Paris was enough to secure the overall women's title ahead of rivals New Zealand.
Portia Woodman bagged two tries in the Paris final, which ended 33-7 in favor of the Black Ferns. Despite three tournament wins, however, they couldn't defend their championship title.
Fiji's Josua Tuisova looks for an offload in the final of the London Sevens against South Africa. His side ran out
21-17 victors to take control of the series.
New Zealand's Black Ferns inflicted the heaviest ever series defeat on Australia in the final of the Canada Sevens, scoring eight tries in a 46-0 demolition of their rivals.
Fiji moved to the top of the standings with a tense victory over Australia in
Singapore.
New Zealand's Black Ferns backed up
Commonwealth gold with silverware in Japan after a 24-12 victory over France in final.
Japan gained a berth in next year's Sevens World Series with a 19-14 victory over Germany in the qualifier event.
Fiji fans celebrate in
Vancouver where their country secured its second win of the Sevens World Series.
Kenya was the tournament's surprise package. Playing in its first final since Singapore in 2016, Shujaa eventually went down 31-12 to Fiji.
There was an historic result in
Vegas as the Eagles lifted the trophy for the first time on home soil with a 28-0 victory over Argentina in the final. It was just the second title USA have won, the first coming in London in 2015.
Fiji overturned a first-half deficit against South Africa to
claim a first title of the season in Hamilton -- the first time the town has hosted a Sevens World Series tournament after the New Zealand leg was moved from Wellington.
Australia's women continued their storming start to the season
in Sydney. Tim Walsh's side became the first team ever to go a whole tournament without conceding a point.
There was more good news to come for home fans that weekend in Sydney. The men
eased past South Africa 29-0 in the final, with Ben O'Donnell (pictured) grabbing a brace.
The All Blacks claimed a first tournament victory since March 2016 in Cape Town,
toppling Argentina in the final.
Having finished second to New Zealand in last season's overall standings, Australia's women got their campaign off to winning ways by
overwhelming USA 34-0 in the opening tournament in Dubai.
Last year's world champion South Africa started this season as they ended the last. The Blitzboks
saw off New Zealand 24-12 in the UAE to win the first piece of silverware up for grabs in the men's competition.
READ: The reasons behind the All Blacks' success
Athletes come to rugby sevens from a range of sporting backgrounds. Baker's teammate Isles tried to make it in the NFL before narrowly missing out on the US Olympic track and field team for the 100 meters.
Jamaican sprinter Warren Weir, who won bronze at London 2012, has recently announced he'll be treading a similar path and play sevens for the Reggae Crocs, the Caribbean island's national team.
For such cross-code athletes, Baker's advice is always the same.
"Go and learn the game first, and then go and work on the skills of the game," he says. "Rugby is more than just having speed."
Baker could be 36 by the time the next World Cup rolls around, and you wonder if his this weekend in San Francisco will also be his last.
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He plans to coach at the Serevi Sevens once the tournament is over, with hopes of one day taking a permanent place on the touchline after hanging up his boots.
His students -- if they can keep up -- will no doubt be leaning from the best.