With the rain starting to fall in Stade de France, the United States mixed 4x400 relay team, which broke the world record on Friday in the preliminary round (3:07.41), couldn’t hold off a phenomenal late surge from Femke Bol of the Netherlands. The 400-meter hurdle specialist split her 400-meter lap in 47.93 to lead her teammates of Eugene Omalla, Lieke Klaver, Isaya Klein Ikkink and country to its first gold in this event with a time of 3:07.43.
“I hoped to run that fast some time but in the relay you never look too much at split times,” Bol said after the race. “It’s more about putting it together as a team and technically you have to race it well.
The Dutch team finished just out of a medal in the Tokyo Olympics, and at the world championships in 2022 they won the silver medal.
“I just went for it. We just wanted a medal this time, we didn’t think it would be gold, just a medal. Well, we got gold and are the Olympic champions. It is absolutely crazy for a small country like ours.”
The U.S. team of Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon, and Kaylyn Brown—the same quarter that dominated the prelims—finished second in 3:07.74. The team from Great Britain took bronze in a national record time of 3:08.01.
“I told the team this is the moment we’ve all been working for, just go out there and enjoy it. The feeling and nerves, embrace it, because we all feel the same thing,” said Vernon Norwood. “We did exactly what we needed to do. We are still world record holders and I can’t be more proud of us.”
On the first day of the track and field program in Paris, Team USA kicked things off by shattering the previous 3:09.82 world record with a quartet of sprint stars.
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Norwood ran the first leg in 44.47 seconds and handed off to Little, who split 49.32 seconds. The two-time world championship silver medalist passed the baton to Deadmon, who blazed 44.17 seconds on the third lap. Brown anchored the team with a stunning 49.45 seconds. The next closest team, France, finished second in 3:10.60.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
