The US 4x400m women’s relay team celebrated a historic eighth consecutive gold medal in the discipline. Team USA breezed to the finish in 3:15:27, with the Netherlands a distant second with 3:19.50s. This win also etched Gabby Thomas’ name in the history books, as she finished with three gold medals in Paris. However, it was not all smooth sailing. Between the second and third legs, Thomas had a moment that left her teammate Alexis Holmes worrying about the outcome.

A fumbled handoff between Thomas and McLaughlin-Levrone created a moment of drama in an otherwise dominant race for the US. While taking the baton from Levrone, Thomas turned and nearly tripped on the inside rail. But Thomas recovered. Using all her experiences, she composed herself and ensured that the gold for her nation was guaranteed. She ran a 49.30 split to put them in a commanding position. However, the moment when the baton wobbled dangerously was briefly a cause of concern for anchor leg Holmes.

At the press conference, Holmes was asked to comment on the situation. Expressing her state of mind, Holmes stated that she was confident about winning despite the momentary slip-up. She said, “I think we came out here tonight with a goal to leave with a gold medal and I had full faith and trust in these women to get the job done.” However, Holmes did mention, “I did have a little moment of panic with the collision in the rail, but once I saw Gabby back on the track, I knew we were gonna be okay.”

And ok they were at the end. In fact, they were more than okay. US started their run, with Shamier Little registering an impressive time of 49.50s. Surprisingly, she was followed by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who usually runs the anchor leg. But McLaughlin-Levrone, who set the world record in the 400mH on August 8, handed the US a massive advantage by completing her run in 47.70s. The baton was then passed to Gabby Thomas, and that is when things nearly went south.

Receiving the baton, Thomas turned and almost tripped on the inside rail. But she recovered quickly. Using all her experience, Thomas composed herself and ensured that the gold for her nation was guaranteed. She ran a 49.30 split before Holmes brought it home with 48.77s. This ensured a ninth Olympic gold medal for the American team out of 14 quarter-mile relay competitions in Olympic history. They have never finished below second place in the discipline.

USA’s time of 3:15:27 broke the 36-year-old American record, set at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. This was also the second-fastest time ever in the discipline. When you have runners like McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas, it is easy to see why.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone recorded the second-fastest leg of the event with Femke Bol’s 48.62s in the anchor lap for the Netherlands being top. McLaughlin-Levrone came into this event having already broken her own world record during the 400mH where she recorded a time of 50.37s. She now has four gold medals in three Olympics, aged just 25.

Gabby Thomas made history of her own after the women’s 4×400 relay win. She won the 200m gold, running a time of  21.83 on August 6. Having not won a gold medal previously, she clinched three in a single Olympic outing, having won the 4×100 gold on Friday. With this success, Thomas became part of a coveted list of American women to have won three gold medals in the same Olympic Games in track and field.

Thomas joined Florence Griffith-Joyner, aka Flo-Jo (1988), Wilma Rudolph (1960), Valerie Brisco-Hooks (1984), and Allyson Felix (2012). Meanwhile, the 4x400m relay wasn’t the only time Thomas had a near-fumble that could have changed the outcome of the race.

Gabby Thomas almost misses 4x100m baton handoff

Gabby Thomas was also part of the relay team that competed in the 4x100m discipline. While Team USA clinched the gold medal, Gabby Thomas was part of another baton mix-up. After leading the qualifiers, Team USA started in an impressive manner in the finals. Boasting significant speed, Twanisha Terry reached Gabby Thomas to hand over the baton to continue the USA’s merry run. However, there was a moment of worry as Thomas had an iffy baton pass-off to Sha’Carri Richardson.

Thankfully, Richardson was able to make up the lost ground quickly. And from there on, it was Sha’Carri Richardson all the way. Nudging ahead of Great Britain’s Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith, Team USA clocked 41.78s to clinch the gold while Great Britain(41.85s) and Germany(41.97s) took silver and bronze, respectively. 

This was a huge win for the team as the 4x100m women’s team has been plagued by a series of misfortunes. The teams got disqualified in the 2004 and 2008 games while finishing with a silver in 2021 as Jamaica took gold. Thus, despite a couple of slip-ups, the flag of Team USA flutters high in Paris with the women basking in the golden glory of eternal elation.