Great Britain’s relay teams showed impressive strength in depth on the final night of an unforgettable week of athletics at the Stade de France by piecing together two extremely quick races and winning bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay finals.
In the men’s race, a British record of 2min 55.83sec was enough to finish third behind the USA and an excellent Botswana team, which battled to the bitter end. In the final lap, the 400m hurdles champion, Rai Benjamin, held off a blistering leg from the 200m gold medallist, Letsile Tebogo, as the US team recorded an Olympic record of 2:54.43.
A few minutes later, the British women’s team also ran a national record, of 3:19.72, even though they were overtaken in the last seconds by the Netherlands after another supreme final leg from Femke Bol. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone continued to set the tone in front with a blistering second lap that ensured that no other team could keep up with the USA as they produced the second-fastest time ever, their time of 3:15.27 just a tenth behind the 1988 world record set by Soviet Union.
In the men’s final, Botswana and the United States went back and forth in first place throughout the race with the final three members of both teams all producing excellent legs under 44sec. Tebogo ended with an incredible 43.04 final leg, which Benjamin held off with a time of 43.18.
But one of the best displays of the final was from Matthew Hudson-Smith, who continues to run with immense confidence after securing 400m silver. His 43.09 split on the second leg was the second fastest of the final and briefly sent Great Britain into first before Charlie Dobson ran brilliantly to hold on to bronze.
“I need a beer, man,” said Hudson-Smith. “It was an amazing Olympic Games. I wanted to come away with two medals and to do this one for the boys. I’ve got the best team in the world, it’s an amazing feeling.”
It has also been a brilliant championship for Alex Haydock-Wilson, whose opening leg of 44.51 was the third fastest first leg, behind only Botswana and the United States. He has now secured two bronzes, in the mixed and men’s 4x400m relays, with strong performances in both finals. The 20-year-old Samuel Reardon, who pulled out of the final, has also earned two Olympic medals. Lewis Davey earns his first Olympic medal.
In the women’s race, Victoria Ohuruogu started with a modest opening lap before Laviai Nielsen and Nicole Yeargin pulled Great Britain from sixth to second. Amber Anning ran by far the fastest leg of all the Britons with a blistering time of 49.01, but Bol has mastered the art of pulling her opponents back in regardless of how fast they are running.
Anning has emerged as one of Great Britain’s top track athletes and the 23-year-old continued her rapid rise by showing she can compete for global medals in the future. Anning finished a brilliant series of performances with bronzes in the mixed and women’s 4x400 relays. In the startlingly fast 400m final, Anning decimated Christine Ohuruogu’s British record by 0.12sec with a time of 49.29 and fifth place.
“I felt good [after the 400m final],” said Anning. “At this point it was all mental. This was more about the team. I did my part, I knew we had a great opportunity to get a medal so this is for the girls. I just wanted to get it round and it was close at the end but I just had a little bit of a surge and brought it home.”
The race was dominated by the talents of McLaughlin-Levrone, who continues to mark herself as one of the greatest track athletes of all time. Having set her sixth world record en route to her second 400m hurdles gold on Thursday, she recorded a second leg split of 47.71, one of the fastest relay laps ever recorded, to distance the US team from the rest of the field.
Such a fast time comes as no surprise. McLaughlin-Levrone has shown that she is incredibly fast across a variety of distances and disciplines, including the flat 400m, 400m relays and even 200m. If she wanted to, McLaughlin-Levrone could make life difficult for sprinters across numerous distances.
Unfortunately for Bol, the American continues to focus on the 400m hurdles. As she moved the Netherlands from fourth to second, Bol’s split of 48.62 was the second fastest of the night behind McLaughlin-Levrone’s. Bol is one of the most incredible athletes of this generation, but she just so happens to be battling an all-time great.
