US Relay Teams Secure Two Golds in Dominating Olympic Track Performances
SAINT-DENIS, France — A dominant victory in one relay and a nail-biting finish in another. A long-awaited celebration for France and a high jump competition that seemed to stretch on forever.
What connected all these events on the final day of Olympic track and field at the Stade de France was the consistent sight of Americans on the medal podium, time and time again.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas concluded the track events by securing a win in the women’s 4×400 relay on Saturday, bringing America’s total medal count to 34, including 14 golds. Thomas had already been a part of the U.S. gold-medal victory in the 4×100 women’s relay the night before.
Dominating laps 2 and 3, the 400-hurdles and 200-meter gold medalists helped the U.S. finish more than 4 seconds ahead of the second-place team, falling just .1 second short of the world record set by the USSR in 1988.
The winning time: 3 minutes, 15.27 seconds.
“I believe this generation of track and field athletes is on a completely different level,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who now boasts four gold medals across four events (along with six world-record runs) throughout her career. “Everything is improving, including us, including our technique, including how we prepare. I don’t think anything is impossible at this point.”
In another race with a narrow .1-second margin, American hurdle gold medalist Kenneth Benjamin edged out the 200-meter champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in the men’s relay.
“I strategically planned that run perfectly,” Benjamin stated. “I have a strong track IQ, understanding how people run and how to achieve a fast time, so I didn’t need to start too aggressively. Let’s just conserve energy for the finish.”
Two more close races lead to American gold and, finally, a medal for France
Appropriately, the final day of an Olympic track and field competition brimming with drama and thrill featured two more races decided by .01 seconds — an 800-meter win by Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi and a 100-meter hurdles victory for American Masai Russell.
Wilhem Belocian of France finished .01 seconds behind Russell, earning silver. It was a heartbreaking finish, perhaps, but it marked the home country’s first and only medal of the track meet and sparked a wave of cheers as enthusiastic as any other moment on a day that saw seven medals awarded.
“I want to share this celebration with the French public because they supported me and pushed me throughout these Olympic Games,” Samba-Mayela expressed.
Wackiness in the high jump pit and a tiebreaker for $50,000
Over in the high-jump pit, there were moments when it seemed as if the gold wouldn’t be decided before the closing ceremony on Sunday.
New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr and America’s Shelby McEwen each missed three times at 2.38 meters, triggering a jump-off at the same height for the championship.
Both missed again, prompting a lowering of the bar. McEwen missed. Then Kerr missed. Then McEwen missed once more — a total of 11 consecutive misses between the two.
Finally, Kerr cleared 2.34 meters, pulled himself off the mat, sprinted a large semicircle into the javelin landing zone — luckily out of use at that time — collapsed on his back and covered his face with his hands.
In a memorable moment from the previous Olympics, Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy, in a gesture of sportsmanship, agreed to share the gold medal and then embraced to celebrate. This time, there was a prize of $50,000 that cast a shadow over that beautiful Olympic spirit.
Was the $50,000 on McEwen’s mind when he decided to go for the win, not the tie?
“Absolutely,” he said. “I have a family to support. So, of course, it was.”
Best medal haul for U.S. track in modern-day Olympics
McEwen’s defeat still helped the U.S. secure 34 medals – the highest for any country at a non-boycotted Games since the early 20th century, when there were more events and fewer nations involved.
The 14 golds mark the most in a non-boycotted Olympics since Bob Beamon, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos led the U.S. to 15 victories in 1968.
For such a dominant performance, it seemed only fitting that McLaughlin-Levrone played a part in the final act.
The 25-year-old, who holds the world’s fourth-fastest time in the 400, along with numerous other accolades, ran her leg in 47.71. This was .91 seconds faster than the next fastest woman in the field, Femke Bol, who propelled the Netherlands to silver.
The fact that McLaughlin-Levrone barely grazed feet with Thomas as they exchanged the baton between the second and third laps felt like a distant memory — long forgotten by the time the “Star-Spangled Banner” played for the final time in the final medal ceremony of the night.
With about 200 meters to go, “Gabby and Syd kind of started walking on the track and they had to pull them back,” said Shamier Little, who ran the opening leg. “We were kind of celebrating. Of course, anything can happen.
“But it wasn’t going to happen.”
Wanyonyi of Kenya wins men’s 800 in another race decided by .01 second
In a swift men’s 800, Wanyonyi defeated Canada’s Marco Arop by .01 seconds in a photo finish, finishing in 1:41.19, just .28 off the world record. American Bryce Hoppel’s national record of 1:41.67 secured him only fourth place.
Ingebrigtsen gets a win, this one in the 5,000
Jakob Ingebrigtsen triumphed in the 5,000 meters in a relatively straightforward race following a highly anticipated 1,500 four nights earlier against Britain’s Josh Kerr, who ultimately finished in second place.
Ingebrigtsen won in 13 minutes, 13.66 seconds, adding this title to wins at the past two world championships.
Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi finished second, and Grant Fisher of the U.S. secured third place.
Japan wins only gold of the meet — a gold in javelin
Haruka Kitguchi secured Japan’s only medal of the meet — a gold one — with a season-best throw of 65.80 meters. She is the first Japanese woman to win a medal in any throwing event at the Olympics.