The United States have won their eighth successive Olympic women\u2019s 4\u00d7400-metre relay crown to clinch the country\u2019s 14th track and field gold medal of the Paris Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Netherlands took silver in 3:19.50 with Great Britain grabbing bronze in 3:19.72.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe US just has so much depth,\u201d McLaughlin-Levrone said after the win. \u201cEvery woman from the trials to the final was going to do their job. \u201cI\u2019m grateful that we were all able to do that and come out with a gold medal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in the men\u2019s 4\u00d7400 metres relay final, the USA came out on top again but only just, as Rai Benjamin held off Botswana\u2019s Letsile Tebogo in a exciting last-leg battle between two individual gold medallists, with Britain taking bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Botswana\u2019s Anthony Pesela, however, closed the gap to set up a affected finale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s shoulder and looked poised to pass him entering the final straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benjamin\u2019s one-lap speed endurance showed, however, as he held him off to win in an Olympic record of 2:54.43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States have won their eighth successive Olympic women\u2019s 4\u00d7400-metre relay crown to clinch the country\u2019s 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…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,66],"tags":[590,73,134],"class_list":["post-7093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletic","category-international-athletics","tag-2024-paris-olympic-games","tag-slsports","tag-sports-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t