Track and field recap, Aug. 9: Riveting relays, Rai rakes in gold

RESULTS

After frustration in Tokyo, the U.S. is back on top in the women’s 4x100m.

The U.S. relay team of Sha’Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry took home gold, improving on their second-place finish at the Tokyo Games with a time of 41.78 seconds.

Great Britain claimed the silver medal in 41.85 seconds. Germany secured bronze with a 41.97-second performance.

Running in torrential downpour in Paris, the third baton handoff between Thomas and Richardson was initially bobbled, and Richardson needed to run from behind. But in her anchor leg, Richardson dug deep and posted a 10.09-second split to surge to the front and clinch her first Olympic gold medal.

Terry’s split of 9.98 seconds was the fastest of the day for the Americans.

The U.S. entered the Olympic final as the reigning world champions – and after dominating in Thursday’s prelims, the Americans were heavy favorites. Between Thomas, Richardson and Jefferson, this relay unit had already combined for three Paris Olympic medals, and now they’ve secured a gleaming gold in the relay.

The women’s 4x100m has now gone to the Americans in three of the last four Olympics – teams led by Allyson Felix claimed gold in 2012 and 2016. In all, the U.S. has now secured its 17th medal (12th gold) in the event in the 23 times it has taken place.

Richardson will leave Paris with 100m silver and this relay gold, while Thomas has two gold medals after winning 200m gold. Jefferson claimed bronze in the 100m so heads home with two medals, as well.

For Great Britain, the silver secures its 10th medal in the event, second in history to the U.S. Interestingly, the Brits have never won gold in the women's 4x100m relay.

The history keeps coming. With a bronze medal in the relay, Germany's Alexandra Burghardt has become the eighth athlete in history to claim a medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. She earned silver at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games in the two-woman bobsled.

RESULTS

Canada won gold in the men’s 4x100m relay for the first time in 28 years, beating out silver medalist South Africa and bronze medalist Great Britain. It's Canada's second consecutive medal in the event after a silver in Tokyo.

The U.S. team of Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley botched  the first baton handoff (between Coleman and Bednarek) and finished in seventh. The Americans were then disqualified for a violation of rule TR24.7, “passing the baton outside the takeover zone (early/late takeover).” The error occurred on the Coleman-Bednarek handoff – Bednarek was the only member of Friday’s team that didn’t run in the heats on Thursday (Courtney Lindsey ran in the prelims).

“It just didn’t happen," Coleman said. "We could’ve put in more work, it just didn’t happen. We practiced a lot. Me and Kenny have been on the team a few times, and we felt really confident going out there. It just didn’t happen this time. It’s part of the sport.

I expect all of us to be back on the team in LA. We’ll have more confidence to bring it all home.

Mirroring what happened at 2022 Worlds, Canada has prevailed over the U.S. in a major title relay. Running the anchor leg, Andre De Grasse has passed Carl Lewis for the second-most sprint/relay medals in Olympic history, with seven. Only Usain Bolt leads him with eight. The medal also ties De Grasse with Penny Oleksiak (1 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze) for the title of Canada’s most-decorated Olympian of all-time. Oleksiak is a swimmer whose medals all came in Rio and Tokyo.

"We talked about this moment for years," De Grasse said. "It feels good to bring it to fruition. I’m super grateful.”

Two decades of relay headaches have continued for the U.S. men’s relay squad, which has not earned a single medal in this event since 2004 – and no gold medals since 2000. At the 2008 Beijing Games, a dropped baton kept the American from a podium. In London and Rio, the U.S. was disqualified. In Tokyo, a poor baton exchange kept the Americans from even qualifying for the final.

But some momentum had been slowly building. The U.S. men claimed 2022 World silver and 2023 World gold to enter Paris as a favorite, which only grew when Jamaica’s relay team surprisingly bowed out in Thursday’s heats.

But on Friday, another disqualification kept the Americans from the medal podium in the 4x100m relay, which means the drought will carry on another four years to Los Angeles.

In earning silver, South Africa has collected its first 4x100m relay event, men's or women's. Akani Simbine ran the anchor leg and has secured his first medal after finishing in fifth in the 100m in Rio, fourth in Tokyo and fourth in Paris.

Great Britain took silver in this event at the Tokyo Games but was stripped of the medal when one athlete tested positive for a banned drug, making Friday's bronze the nation's first relay medal since their 2004 Athens gold.

RESULTS

In the much-hyped showdown between two titans of the men’s hurdling world, Rai Benjamin took down Karsten Warholm and a loaded Paris Olympic field to claim his first gold medal. Benjamin’s time of 46.46 seconds edged Warholm by 0.6 seconds.

The Paris Olympic final served as the second Olympic showdown between these two. At the Tokyo Games, Warholm outran Benjamin en route to a world record (45.94 seconds) and gold medal. But in Paris, the night belonged to Benjamin, who remains undefeated in nine races in 2024.

Warholm, at 47.06 seconds, took silver on Friday after Benjamin surged ahead of him around the final hurdle. With the silver, Warholm becomes Norway's first two-time Olympic medlaist in track events.

For the second consecutive Olympic Games, Brazilian Alison dos Santos is the bronze medalist in this event. He finished in 47.26 seconds,

Benjamin, Warholm and dos Santos of Brazil entered Paris having combined for 24 of the fastest 25 times in the event’s history. On Friday, they appeared tailor-made for a 1-2-3 finish and delivered just that.

RESULTS

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic emphatically won gold in an Olympic record time of 48.17 seconds.

Her time is the fourth-fastest ever in the women’s 400, and the gold medal is the first in history for a Dominican Republic medal. Paulino took home silver at the Tokyo Games, and now she’s struck gold with Friday's record time. For the entire final 200 meters of this Olympic final, it felt like a one-woman race.

Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser is the silver medalist, with a time of 48.53 seconds. Her medal is the second in these Games for Bahrain (Winfred Yavi won gold in the women's 3000m steeplechase).

Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek claimed bronze in 48.98, becoming just the second Polish woman in history to earn a 400m medal.

American Alexis Holmes placed sixth in 49.77.

RESULTS

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet became just the third woman in history to pull off the 5000m-10,000m double as she won gold in Friday’s 10,000m Olympic final. With a time of 30:43.25, Chebet has claimed Kenya’s first gold medal in this event.

This is just Chebet’s second time running the 10,000m since March of 2022. Her only other race was back at the Prefontaine Classic in May, where she set a world record.

Italian Nadia Battocletti earned Italy its first medal in the event, as she took silver with a time of 30:43.35. Entering the night, Battocletti’s season-best time was just 22nd in the world, but in Friday’s final she skyrocketed to near-victory in dazzling fashion. Battocletti previously finished fourth in the 5000m final.

Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands continues to amaze. After securing 5000m bronze, she’s got 10,000m bronze, as well. Next, she’ll compete in the women’s marathon on Sunday morning in Paris, as she looks to pull off a medal in all three events.

Hassan’s exploits are reminiscent of legendary Czech athlete Emil Zatopek, who achieved gold in the men’s 5000m, 10,000m and marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Games. Hassan says she’s studied Zatopek’s races in her quest to pull off “the Zatopek.”

RESULTS: Heptathlon 100m hurdles | High jump | Shot put | 200m | Long jump | Javelin | 800m

Belgium’s Nafi Thiam has claimed her third consecutive heptathlon Olympic gold medal with 6880 points.

In her victory, the 29-year-old has become the first woman in history to win three Olympic titles in the event. U.S. legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee won back-to-back golds in 1988 and 1992 (and bronze in 1996) – now Thiam stands alone with three golds.

The Belgian sensation joins Polish hammer thrower Anita Włodarczyk as the only women to win the same individual Olympic track and field event three times.

Reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain (6884 points) finished second to earn silver. Competing in her fourth Olympics, "KJT" has her first Olympic medal.

With a lifetime best 6707 points, Thiam’s Belgian teammate Noor Vidts is the bronze medalist, also earning her first Olympic medal after taking 2024 World Indoors gold in the pentathlon.

Eight months removed from a complex knee surgery, American Anna Hall posted a season's best 6,615 points to finish fifth. Hall won the final event, the 800m, in a dominant 2:04.39. 

RESULTS

In a razor-thin battle, Spain's Jordan Diaz squeaked by defending gold medalist Pedro Pichardo of Portugal triple jump gold. Diaz, who defected from Cuba and now represents Spain, has secured Spain its first-ever medal in the men’s triple jump.

Diaz edged the defending champion by just .02 meters, nailing a top jump of 17.86m. Pichardo and Diaz previously went head-to-head in an epic battle at the European Championships in June, which was just the second time in history with multiple men topping 18 meters in the same event. Diaz won in June, and he prevailed again in Paris.

Italian Andy Diaz Hernandez claimed bronze for his first Olympic medal. American Salif Mane placed sixth. 

RESULTS

Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye took gold in the women's shot put final with a massive toss of 20.00 meters in her final attempt. Entering the final attempt, Ogunleye was in silver medal position but launched herself to Olympic champion status with the herculean throw.

New Zealand's Maddison-Lee Wesche, at 19.86m, claimed silver. China's Song Jiayuan took bronze with a longest throw of 19.32m.

American Jaida Ross, who won the 2024 NCAA shot put title at the University of Oregon, just missed out on the podium. She placed fourth, just 0.4m behind Jiayuan.

Women's 4x400m relay Round 1: The U.S. women's relay team of Quanera Hayes, Shamier Little, Aaliyah Butler and Kaylyn Brown dominated their heat in 3:21.44. After taking home gold from the Tokyo Games, the Americans will look to repeat in the Olympic final on Saturday against fellow qualifiers Great Britain, France, Jamaica, Belgium, Ireland, Canada and the Netherlands. Relay team are allowed to shake up the roster for the final, so Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who claimed gold in world record fashion in the women's 400m hurdles on Thursday, is eligible to run.

Men's 4x400m relay Round 1: 16-year-old Quincy Wilson made his highly anticipated Olympic debut, becoming the youngest male track and field athlete to compete for the U.S. at the Olympics. After setting three under-18 world records this year, Wilson ran the opening leg of the men's 4x400m relay in 47.27 seconds as the U.S. finished third in their heat at 2:59.15. That was enough to qualify for the final along with Botswana, Great Britain, Japan, France, Belgium, Zambia and Italy. The 16-year-old Wilson handed off the baton to 32-year-old teammate Vernon Norwood, with Bryce Deadmon and Chris Bailey running the third and fourth legs.

In his post-race media session, Wilson was frustrated in his 47.27 leg, saying, "I knew it wasn’t just myself today. If it was just myself, we would be in last place.

"When I get home I’ll probably soak it all in. But as of right now, the goal was just to be able to get the baton around the track."