Rai Benjamin anchors US men to 4x400 gold
SAINT-DENIS, France – Rai Benjamin confidently told USA TODAY Sports that the U.S. men’s 4x400meter relay team “got something for” the competition in the final. Benjamin was correct.
Benjamin led the U.S. men’s 4x400 relay team to a victory Saturday at the Stade de France.
The men’s team consisted of Chris Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Benjamin as the anchor.
Norwood got the team in position running the second leg, Deadmon got the squad a 2-meter lead on the third leg and Benjamin took the gold home with an Olympic-record time of 2:54.43. Botswana earned the silver with a time of 2:54.53 and Great Britain rounded out the top three, clocking in at 2:55.83.
Benjamin had to hold off 200 Olympic gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who ran the fastest split among all competitors at 43.04. But Benjamin was nearly as quick, running a sizzling 43.18 split on the final leg.
“When (Vernon) got the stick and ran that phenomenal leg I was like, ‘We might do this.’ When Bryce got the stick and brought it around, I saw Letsile on the anchor leg and was like, ‘Dang, this one is gonna be tough.’ I had to be smart (and) I had to get out. I couldn’t get out too hot and I couldn’t get out too slow because (Tebogo) runs 19.4 (in the 200 meters) and you just don’t play around with people who run a 19.4,” Benjamin said. “I knew it was gonna be a fight coming home. It was probably my most calculated anchor leg that I’ve ever run since I’ve been anchoring this relay for the past couple years. I knew it wasn’t gonna be easy.”
The gold capped off a superb Paris Olympics for Benjamin, who won his first Olympic gold medal in the men’s 400 hurdles before adding Saturday’s gold.
Team USA has enjoyed far more success in the 4x400 relay than the 4x100 relay. Botched handoffs and exchanges have notoriously plagued the U.S. men in the 4x100, and the team’s issues came to the forefront again on Friday night. But the 4x400 squad extended its dominance Saturday night in front of a packed crowd.
The U.S. men have now won gold in the 4x400 relay at three consecutive Olympics.
High school phenom Quincy Wilson had a gold medal wrapped around his neck in the mixed zone. Wilson was awarded a gold medal for running on Team USA’s 4x400 relay team during the opening round.
Wilson became the youngest male U.S. track and field Olympian ever after his superb performance at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon.
At the trials, the 16-year-old wunderkind broke the under-18 world record in the opening round of the 400, blazing one lap around the track in 44.66 seconds. The high school record he broke had stood for 42 years. Then Wilson bested the time in the semifinals, running a 44.59 to qualify for the final. Wilson placed in sixth in the final in Eugene, which earned him a spot in the relay pool.
“I just wanted to run for these guys. Most importantly, I wanted to run for Quincy because he put out a significant amount of effort yesterday,” Norwood said. “That gave me a lot of motivation to try to do my best out there.”