Team USA won Olympic gold in the men’s and women’s 4X400 relay on Saturday with men hitting Olympic-record time and women coming in only .1 short of the world record.
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images
Moments before the women’s race, there was more tension involving the men. Rai Benjamin, the 400 hurdles gold medalist held off 200 champion Letsile Tebogo to give the United States a .1-second win over Botswana – the final thriller in a nine-day meet full of them.
Men clinch gold and Olympic-record time
Rai Benjamin held off Letsile Tebogo of Botswana on the anchor leg to give the United States a gold medal and an Olympic-record time in the men’s 4×400-meter relay at the Paris Games on Saturday night.
Benjamin added this Olympic title to the one he claimed in the 400-meter hurdles a night earlier and prevented 200-meter champion Tebogo from giving Botswana another triumph over the Americans.
It was Tebogo, the 21-year-old sprinting sensation, who stole the spotlight – and the gold – from the U.S. in the 200 on Thursday, relegating Kenny Bednarek to silver and Noah Lyles, who tested positive for COVID-19, to bronze.
The U.S. quartet of Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Benjamin completed the four laps in 2 minutes, 54.43 seconds, nearly a second faster than the American 4×400 team ran at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And Saturday’s time was just .14 seconds off the world record set by the United States in 1993.
Botswana was a tenth of a second back Saturday, with Tebogo joined by Bayapo Ndori, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Anthony Pesela.
Britain was third in 2:55.83.
Women cruise to a gold Olympic medal
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas teamed up for America’s 14th gold and 34th overall medal at the track Saturday, wrapping up the Olympic action at the Stade de France with a 4.23-second runaway in the women’s 4×400 relay.
The gold medalists in the 400 hurdles and 200 meters took care of legs two and three for the United States, handing a 30-meter lead to Alexis Holmes, who didn’t lose any ground.
The U.S. finished in 3 minutes, 15.27 seconds, only .1 short of the world record.