U.S. men, women take gold in 4x400m relays at Paris Olympics - ESPN

SAINT-DENIS, France — The U.S. men and women both took gold in the 4x400-meter relays Saturday at the Paris Games, with the men setting an Olympic record and the women blowing past the competition.

Rai Benjamin held off Letsile Tebogo on the anchor leg to give the men's team the win in record time. The U.S. women's team finished in 3 minutes, 15.27 seconds, only .1 short of the world record set by the Soviet Union in 1988.

Benjamin added this Olympic title to the one he claimed in the 400-meter hurdles a night earlier and prevented 200-meter champion Tebogo from giving Botswana another triumph over the Americans.

It was Tebogo, the 21-year-old sprinting sensation, who stole the spotlight — and the gold — from the U.S. in the 200 on Thursday, relegating Kenny Bednarek to silver and Noah Lyles, who tested positive for COVID-19, to bronze.

The U.S. quartet of Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Benjamin completed the four laps in 2 minutes, 54.43 seconds, nearly a second faster than the American 4x400 team ran at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And Saturday's time was just .14 seconds off the world record set by the United States in 1993.

Botswana was a tenth of a second back Saturday, with Tebogo joined by Bayapo Ndori, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Anthony Pesela.

Britain was third in 2:55.83.

For the women, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas teamed up for America's 14th gold and 34th overall medal, wrapping up the Olympic action at the Stade de France with a 4.23-second runaway in the women's 4x400 relay.

The gold medalists in the 400 hurdles and 200 meters took care of legs two and three for the United States, handing a 30-meter lead to Alexis Holmes, who didn't lose any ground.

McLaughlin-Levrone,