The USA and Botswana stormed into the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on Saturday (10) with the second and third fastest performances ever in the men’s 4x400m, taking gold and silver respectively.

The USA ran an Olympic record of 2:54.43 to take the title, just one-tenth of a second ahead of African record holder Botswana, and narrowly missing the world record of 2:54.29 set by the USA in Stuttgart in 1993.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland also set an area record: with a time of 2:55.83 they improved the European record and won the bronze medal.

The USA secured its 19th Olympic title in the event when 400-meter hurdles winner Rai Benjamin brought the baton home in record time, while the Botswana team, led by 200-meter winner Letsile Tebogo, secured their country’s fourth ever Olympic medal with a time of 43.04 seconds.

After running for the US team in the preliminary rounds, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in track and field.

The USA, Botswana and Great Britain were fairly evenly matched after the first section: Christopher Bailey handed over to Vernon Norwood, Bayapo Ndori handed over the baton – after an intermediate time of 44.30 – to Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Matthew Hudson-Smith took over from Alex Haydock-Wilson.

Botswana then narrowly prevailed, but Hudson-Smith, the individual silver medalist, caught up with Kebinatshipi with the fastest split of the second leg – 43.09 – and Norwood closed in on them at the changeover with 43.26. Bryce Deadmon gave it his all for the USA, putting them in the lead with a split of 43.54 on the third leg, while Botswana’s Anthony Pesela overtook Britain’s Lewis Davey before the final changeover.

Then it was Benjamin and Tebogo’s turn. Benjamin stayed a few steps ahead of his rival until the final corner, when Tebogo increased the pressure again. But Benjamin was able to react and they pushed each other to two of the three fastest times in history – Benjamin ran a split of 43.18 and Tebogo 43.04.

Charles Dobson ran as anchor for Great Britain and defended the bronze medal ahead of Belgium with a national record of 2:57.75, South Africa with a national record of 2:58.12 and Japan with an Asian record of 2:58.33.

“I feel like we bonded as a team at these Olympics and energized each other,” Benjamin said. “Vernon and Bryce, Shamier (Little) and KK (Kaylyn Brown) started things off for us on the first day (in the mixed 4×400 meters) and after that they were just infectious.”

Reflecting on his final leg, he added: “I calculated this run very well, down to the smallest detail. I have a really high running IQ when it comes to people and how they run, so I didn’t need to start too quickly – we’ll just save that for the ride home because we’ll learn a lot. Anyone who can run 19.4 can do 43 seconds, so I just had to be prepared for that.”

Jess Whittington for World Athletics

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