The United States won its eighth consecutive Olympic crown in the women’s 4×400-meter relay, capturing the country’s 14th track and field gold medal at the Paris Games.
A star-studded American quartet, which included two-time Olympic 400-meter hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and 200-meter gold medalist Gabby Thomas, came home in 3 minutes, 15.27 seconds on Saturday.
The Netherlands took silver with 3:19.50 and Great Britain took bronze with 3:19.72.
“The U.S. has a lot of depth,” McLaughlin-Levrone said after the win. “All the women, from the trials to the final, would do their job.
“I’m grateful we were all able to do this and come away with a gold medal.”
And in the final of the men’s 4×400 meter relay, the USA came out on top again, but just barely, when Rai Benjamin held off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in a thrilling last-stage battle between two individual gold medalists, with Great Britain taking the lead. the bronze.
The USA released Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old who fought hard in the qualifiers, but they did not bring individual 400m champion Quincy Hall, instead signing 400m hurdles champion Benjamin to run the final leg.
Chris Bailey eliminated them but passed third to Vernon Norwood, who stormed in the heats and repeated in the final to put Bryce Deadmon in the lead.
Botswana’s Anthony Pesela, however, closed the gap to create a dramatic finish.
Tebogo, the 200m champion who was called up at the last minute to compete in the first leg for Botswana in Friday’s qualifiers, sat on Benjamin’s shoulder and looked poised to overtake him in the home straight.
Benjamin’s one-lap speed endurance was demonstrated, however, when he held off to win in an Olympic record 2:54.43.
Botswana, bronze medalists in Tokyo, took silver in an African record of 2:54.53, while Great Britain won bronze in a European record of 2:55.83.
Kerr wins tiebreaker to win gold
In the field events, Mutaz Barshim, from Qatar, won bronze in the men’s high jump final, losing the gold he won in Tokyo four years ago to Hamish Kerr, from New Zealand.
Kerr said he was “in shock” after a rare athletics gold for his country.
He tasted glory after a dramatic shoot-out with American Shelby McEwen.
Both men achieved records of 2.36 meters in the regular competition, but could not be separated in the countdown of missed jumps.
They opted for a jump-off, with Kerr clearing 2.34 meters when the American failed after the bar was lowered from 2.38 to 2.36 meters.
“I was in shock. Both Shelby and I were a little tired after all the jumping we did,” said Kerr.
“I knew I had a good one in me, and I knew if I could get it back sooner rather than later, I could just finish the competition and start recovering.”
There was a hint of déjà vu at the Stade de France as Barshim shared Olympic gold with Italian Gianmarco Tamberi at the COVID-hit Tokyo Games three years ago.
“This has a very special place in history for the high jump,” Kerr said.
“Having exactly the same scenario this time, but choosing to do the jump-off, was putting some of the people who wanted to jump at peace, so we are both very happy to contribute to that story.”
The discussion Kerr and McEwen shared with authorities was short and to the point. Both athletes wanted to continue and there would be no shared gold.
“We are good friends, good opponents and good jumpers when we jump together,” McEwen said of Kerr.
“He said he wanted to face himself and I was completely in favor.
Barshim had a best of 2.34 meters, but Tamberi – battling kidney stones – had a night to forget, finishing 11th in the 12-strong field with a best jump of 2.22 meters.
It was the fourth medal at the fourth Olympics for Barshim, but the Qatari insisted he would not compete in Los Angeles in 2028.
“You’ll see me with popcorn, a few more kilos and watching the crowd. This is my last Olympics for sure,” said the 33-year-old three-time world champion who won Olympic silver in 2012 and 2016.
His four medals, he added, were “the legacy I want to leave. I have so much to give, maybe now it’s my turn to give to the next generation and I hope they see the next champion.”
Russell beats home favorite in 100m hurdles
Earlier in the day, American Masai Russell ran an impressive race to win the Olympic 100m hurdles title in an all-around finish, beating 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 silver medal of the Paris Games. Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico (12.36) took bronze.
“I knew from the beginning I was a little hesitant when the gun went off,” Russell said.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
