US Triumphs Over Botswana in Thrilling Men's 4×400 Relay at Paris Olympics

The U.S. quartet was just .14 seconds off the world record set by the United States in 1993.

SAINT-DENIS, France — Rai Benjamin anchored the American team to gold in the men’s 4×400-meter relay at the Paris Games on Saturday night, clocking an Olympic-record time.

Benjamin, who also won the 400-meter hurdles earlier, managed to fend off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in the final stretch. This prevented Tebogo from securing another gold for Botswana, adding to his triumph in the 200-meter event on Thursday.

In the 200-meter race, Tebogo had outshone the U.S. team, leaving Kenny Bednarek with silver and Noah Lyles, who recently tested positive for COVID-19, with bronze.

The U.S. relay team, composed of Christpher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, and Benjamin, finished the race in 2 minutes, 54.43 seconds. This time was nearly a second faster than the American team’s performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and just .14 seconds shy of the 1993 world record.

Botswana finished a tenth of a second behind the U.S., with Tebogo joined by Bayapo Ndori, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi, and Anthony Pesela. The British team claimed third place with a time of 2:55.83.

Rai Benjamin holds off Letsile Tebogo to anchor Team USA to gold in the 4x400m relay! #ParisOlympics NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/MhJbrRH43D

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024