U.S. women coast to victory in 4×400 relay, wrapping up dominant Olympic track and field performance

SAINT-DENIS, France — The athletics portion of the Paris Games ended with the United States crossing the finish line, the opponent distant in the rear view, in a display of superiority.

Just as it was for most of the week.

The U.S. women’s 4×400 relay team, the final track event at an epic Olympics, blazed to the gold medal with a time of 3:15.27. Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas and Alexis Holmes put together a dominant performance illustrative of American track and field’s dominance in the 33rd Olympiad.

Unsurprisingly, it was McLaughlin-Levrone who flipped the race with a blistering lap in 47.71 seconds. The second-fastest leg — by anyone — was Femke Bol of the Netherlands at 48.62.

Team USA DOMINATES the women’s 4x400m final to win their EIGHTH consecutive gold! 🇺🇸 #ParisOlympics

📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/TqHh7HEehu

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

Shamier-Little ran the opening leg in 49.98 seconds, the only sub-50-second time in the opening leg. So she got the baton to McLaughlin-Levrone first. It was over. And any idea it wasn’t was erased by Thomas, who expanded the American’s lead.

Holmes had an easy anchor as the U.S. won by four seconds. But she provided a fitting finale.

The U.S. won 34 medals in athletics, 14 gold. It doubled the gold medal count from the Tokyo Games when it took home 26 total medals.

Thomas won her third gold medal of these games: one in the 200-meter hurdles, and two as the third leg in both relays. McLaughlin-Levrone secured her second gold medal, joining Thomas and Rai Benjamin as the Americans in track and field with multiple golds.

This is McLaughlin-Levrone’s fourth gold medal. She also won the 400-meter hurdles and the 4×400 relay in Tokyo.

The Netherlands finished second with a time of 3:19.50. Great Britain took third at 3:19.72.

(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)