Team USA dominates women’s and men’s 4×400-meter relays

The last two races of the Paris Games were a gold rush for the US, with both the women and men dominating the 4×400-meter relays Saturday.

The women — comprising Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas and Alexis Holmes — closed out the Olympics in a race that was not close.

When McLaughlin-Levrone built up a jet-heeled lead in the second leg, it took some of the crowd a second to realize quite what was happening. From then on, the gold medal was such a formality that many fans were paying more attention to the close battle for second, won by the Netherlands.

A three-time gold medalist after wins in the 200-meter and 4×100-meter relay, Thomas helped widen the gap in the third lap that McLaughlin-Levrone created in the second.

By the end, the American women had an almost four-second lead on the rest of the field, with anchor Holmes crossing the finish line with a new American record of 3:15.27.

The fateful second lap was high drama: Not only did McLaughlin-Levrone take the lead, but podium contender Jamaica also dropped out of the race, leaving the track wide open for eventual silver medalist the Netherlands and bronze medalist Great Britain.

Only moments before the relay, the men made history of their own.

In one of the fastest relays in history, the American team of Rai Benjamin, Christopher Bailey, Bryce Deadmon and Vernon Norwood took home the gold, setting a new Olympic record of 2:54.43. In the last lap, it came down to a race between two gold medalists: Benjamin and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.

Benjamin was able to run away from Tebogo down the stretch and home to gold. He became the first American runner to win both hurdles and the 4×400-meter relay.

With the victory, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson — who ran earlier in the week for the US but not in the final — is now the youngest Olympic track-and-field gold medalist ever. He is also the youngest male US Olympic gold medalist in any sport since 1952.

Wilson will be returning to high school in the fall with hardware around his neck.