The United States won their eighth consecutive Olympic women’s 4x400m relay crown on Saturday to clinch the USA’s 14th track and field gold medal of the Paris Games.
A star-studded US quartet that included two-time Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and 200m gold medallist Gabby Thomas powered home in 3min 15.27sec.
The Netherlands took silver in 3:19.50 with Great Britain grabbing bronze in 3:19.72.
Shamier Little had got the Americans off to a flying start before handing off to McLaughlin-Levrone for the second leg.
The USA team captain produced a scorching leg clocked at 47.71sec to give the defending champions a huge lead at the half-way mark.
Thomas then extended the USA advantage before handing to Alexis Holmes, who crossed the line just outside breaking one of the oldest world records in athletics — the 3:15.17 set by the former Soviet Union in 1988.
In the battle for silver, the Netherlands’ Femke Bol produced a barnstorming final leg of 48.62sec to snatch second place.
In the men’s event, Rai Benjamin anchored the United States to victory.
Benjamin, who won the 400m hurdles gold, helped the US quartet also featuring Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood and Bryce Deadmon to an Olympic record of 2min 54.43sec.
The US team’s individual 400m gold medallist in Paris, Quincy Hall, was not a starter in the relay.
Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori had put the African country into the lead after the first leg, Britain then briefly leading before Bryce Deadmon delivered a great third leg for the Americans.
When the baton was passed to Benjamin, Tebogo was right on his tail and stayed there right through to the finish line.
But Tebogo’s shorter sprint pace was not quite enough to outpace the American.
