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Team USA brings home gold in 400m relay at Tokyo Olympics

275133747_4796292347117549_592518599057046758_nby:Jonathan Wagner•08/07/21•

Jonathan Wagner

Team-USA-brings-home-another-gold-Tokyo-Olympics (1)
Patrick Smith via Getty Images

Team USA has secured another gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The quartet of Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu dominated the women’s 4×400-meter relay to secure the gold Saturday morning.

USA completely dominated the relay

Team USA came close to breaking the world record of 3:15.17 in the race but finished just behind that time with a mark of 3:16.85. Mu could be seen far ahead of the remaining competitors in the final leg of the race. The second-place finisher, Poland, did not cross the finish line for another four seconds. Jamaica crossed the finish line nearly five seconds later to earn the bronze medal.

For Felix, the medal gave her 11 total on her career, making her the most decorated American in Olympic track and field history. Felix is a track and field star, as her career has spanned 17 years and five Olympic games. She will go out on a positive note, as Saturday morning’s race will be the final Olympic race of Felix’s career.

Felix did her college running at USC, as did Dalilah Muhammad. Sydney McLaughlin ran at Kentucky, and Athing Mu ran at Texas A&M. All four Olympians now have two medals apiece at the Tokyo Olympics. The victory marks the seventh consecutive gold medal for Team USa in the women’s 4x400m relay. Team USA has never taken home worse than a silver medal in the history of the event at the Olympics since 1972.

Gold medals add for Team USA track and field

Earlier in the week, Mclaughlin set a world record in the women’s 400m hurdles event to take home gold. Muhammad also competed in the event, taking home silver. Both women broke the previous world record time of 51.90 seconds, which McLaughlin set in 2020 Olympics qualifiers. McLaughlin’s time came in at 51.46 while Muhammad finished at 51.58. Third-place finisher Femke Bol had an impressive time of 52.03 as well to earn the bronze medal.

The women’s relay team was not the only one that saw success early Saturday morning for Team USA. The men’s 4x400m relay brought home gold following the women’s victory. This completed a successful sweep of the event for Team USA.

Team USA entered Saturday as the Tokyo Olympics leader with 106 total medals. Their 35 gold medals trailed only China, but that gap has been tightened already in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Image courtesy of: Patrick Smith via Getty Images.