Paris Olympics: Decoding USA men's 4x400m relay triumphant campaign
The USA team emerged winners in the 4x400m men's event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. They crossed the line in 2:54.43 minutes in the final, which is now an Olympic record. While Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, and Rai Benjamin ran the final race for USA, Quincy Wilson participated in the preliminary round. Let's decode their campaign.
Modest start before history
USA advanced to the final by finishing third in Heat 1 with a time of 2:59.15. As mentioned, Benjamin came in for Wilson in the final. The move turned out to be spot on as USA walked away with the gold, clocking 2:54.43 in the final. Silver medalist Botswana (2:54.53) gave the American unit a tough fight in the final.
How did USA's final pan out?
Bailey opened the race for Team USA with a 44.50-second split. Norwood, who won gold on the 4x400 mixed relay team, delivered a 43.30-second split. Deadmon put up a 43.50-second split on the third leg. Benjamin received the baton for the anchor. He ran a 44.45 split and finished just ahead of Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, the winner of the 200m.
USA broke the Olympic record
USA broke their own Olympic record as the quartet of LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville, and Jeremy Wariner clocked 2:55.39mins in the 2008 Beijing Games. Notably, the world record in this event is also against USA's name (2:54.29 in 1993).
19th gold for USA
Meanwhile, this was USA's third successive Olympic gold in the men's 4 x 400m relay event and 19th overall. USA's tally also includes three silver medals. Great Britain (2) is the only other team with multiple Olympic gold medals in this discipline. Team USA's tally of 22 Olympic medals in this event is at least nine more than any other team.
