US men end gold drought with 4x400m relay triumph

The United States men’s team won their first gold in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, clinching the 4×400 metres relay by a massive margin.

This was the final chance for the American men to avoid the ignominy of not winning a gold on the track for the first time in the Games’ 125-year history – barring their boycott year in 1980 – and they left it to the very last event.

The American team of Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin took the lead early and surged ahead of their challengers to take victory in a season’s best 2:55.70.

Netherlands took the silver medal in a national record time of 2:57.18 and Botswana claimed the bronze.