The United States have won their eighth consecutive Olympic women’s 4×400-metre relay crown to clinch the country’s 14th track and field gold medal of the Paris Games.
A star-studded USA quartet, which included two-time Olympic 400-metre hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and 200-metres gold medallist Gabby Thomas, powered home in 3 minutes and 15.27 seconds on Saturday.
The Netherlands took silver in 3:19.50 with Great Britain grabbing bronze in 3:19.72.
“The US just has so much depth,” McLaughlin-Levrone said after the win. “Every woman from the trials to the final was going to do their job.
“I’m grateful that we were all able to do that and come out with a gold medal.”
And in the men’s 4×400 metres relay final, the USA came out on top again but only just, as Rai Benjamin held off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in a thrilling last-leg battle between two individual gold medallists, with Britain taking bronze.
The USA dropped Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old who struggled badly in the heats, but did not bring in individual 400-metre champion Quincy Hall, instead adding 400m hurdles champion Benjamin to run the final leg.
Chris Bailey took them out but handed over in third to Vernon Norwood, who ran a stormer in the heats and repeated it in the final to send Bryce Deadmon off in the lead.
Botswana’s Anthony Pesela, however, closed the gap to set up a dramatic finale.
Tebogo, the 200-metre champion who was drafted in at the last minute to run the first leg for Botswana in the heats on Friday, sat on Benjamin’s shoulder and looked poised to pass him entering the final straight.
Benjamin’s one-lap speed endurance showed, however, as he held him off to win in an Olympic record of 2:54.43.
Botswana, bronze medallists in Tokyo, took silver in an African record 2:54.53 with Britain taking bronze in a European record 2:55.83.
Kerr wins jump-off to bag gold
In the field events, Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim won bronze in the men’s high jump final, losing the gold he won in Tokyo four years ago to Hamish Kerr of New Zealand.
Kerr said he was “in shock” after a rare athletics gold for his country.
He tasted glory after a dramatic jump-off with American Shelby McEwen.
Both men managed bests of 2.36 metres in regular competition, but could not be separated on the countback of missed jumps.
They opted for a jump-off, Kerr clearing 2.34 metres when the American failed after the bar was lowered from 2.38 to 2.36 metres.
“I was just in shock. Both me and Shelby were getting a little bit tired after all the jumps we took,” said Kerr.
“I knew I had a good one in me and I knew that if I could get it up sooner rather than later, then I could just finish the comp and start recovering.”
There was a hint of deja vu at the Stade de France as Barshim had shared Olympic gold with Italian Gianmarco Tamberi in the COVID-hit Tokyo Games three years ago.
“That has such a special place in history for high jumps,” Kerr said.
“To have an exact same scenario this time around, but to choose to do the jump-off, was putting at peace some of those people who wanted to jump off, so we’re both really happy to add to that history.”
The discussion Kerr and McEwen shared with officials was short and to the point. Both athletes wanted to continue and there was to be no shared gold.
“We’re good buddies, good opponents and good jumpers when we jump together,” McEwen said of Kerr.
“He said he wanted to face off and I was all for it.
Barshim had a best of 2.34 metres, but Tamberi – struggling with kidney stones – had a night to forget, finishing 11th in the 12-strong field with a best jump of 2.22 metres.
It was a fourth medal at a fourth Olympics for Barshim, but the Qatari insisted he would not be competing in Los Angeles in 2028.
“You will see me with popcorn, a few more kilograms and watching the guys. This is my last Olympics for sure,” said the 33-year-old three-time world champion who won Olympic silvers in 2012 and 2016.
His four medals, he added, were “the legacy I want to leave behind. I have so much to give, maybe now it’s my time to give to the next generation and hopefully, you’ll see the next champion”.
Russell beats home favourite in 100m hurdles
Earlier in the day, American Masai Russell produced a stunning run to win the Olympic 100-metre hurdles title in a blanket finish, edging out the home hope Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Tokyo champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.
Russell clocked 12.33 seconds as French President Emmanuel Macron watched Samba-Mayela (12.34) deliver France’s first track medal of the Paris Games with silver. Puerto Rico’s Camacho-Quinn (12.36) took bronze.
“I knew from the beginning I was a little hesitant when the gun went off,” Russell said.
