TOKYO – Capping the greatest accumulation of gold medals ever at the World Athletics Championships, Noah Lyles anchored the United States men to victory in the 4x100 relay to silence doubters and claim Team USATF's 16th gold of the meet with a 37.29 that was the fifth-fastest ever and the fastest in the world since 2019.
That win was the fourth on the ninth and final day of a memorable Championships at National Stadium and brought the American medal total to 26 overall, well atop the table of nations and cementing Team USATF's status as the greatest track and field team in the world. The previous U.S. high for golds was 14, done three times – 2005, 2007, and 2019.
Leading off the 10th U.S. men's quartet to earn gold in the event at the World Championships, Christian Coleman again dominated the leadoff leg and gave Kenny Bednarek a nice cushion for his backstretch adventure. Averting disaster as the Dutch incoming runner in the lane outside him was swinging his left arm like a wild man and almost struck him across the chest, Bednarek blitzed past the field and passed to Courtney Lindsey heading into the final turn.
Lindsey was the fastest of the eight nations on that decisive leg and that meant Lyles, the 200 gold medalist earlier this week, was free and clear for his run to glory. Nobody was catching the Olympic 100 champ and bronze medalist here and Lyles elicited unbridled joy among the American contingent in the stands when he crossed the finish line .26 seconds ahead of Canada, with the Netherlands setting a national record of 37.81 for bronze.
Looking at the quartet that strolled out onto the rain-soaked oval, the other seven teams in the final of the women's 4x400 had to be thinking only about silver and bronze as the U.S. featured a star-studded team anchored by 400 champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the second fastest woman ever over one lap.
American indoor record holder Isabella Whittaker took on the important role of lead runner and she was the class of the field with a 50.12 split that let her pass to mixed 4x400 gold medalist Lynna Irby-Jackson with a .38 cushion. Irby-Jackson nailed down the gold for all intents and purposes with a staggering 48.71 split that gave the team a 1.26 second gap over Jamaica.
When she handed over the baton to NCAA champion Aaliyah Butler, the only question that remained was… how fast? Butler had only herself to run with and dipped under 50 with a 49.96 split that stretched the lead to 1.96 seconds at the final exchange with McLaughlin-Levrone.
From there Sydney did what Sydney does, blazing to a 47.82 anchor split that gave the U.S. a meet record of 3:16.61, the fifth fastest time ever and more than 2.5 seconds ahead of the Jamaicans in silver medal position in 3:19.25. Femke Bol brought the Netherlands home for bronze in 3:20.18. The winning time took .1 off the previous meet record that was set by an American foursome at Stuttgart in 1993 and gave the U.S. their 11th gold in meet history as they regained the title that they yielded to the Netherlands in Budapest.
A matchup of titans on the opening leg of the women's 4x100 relay had 100/200 gold medalist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the United States taking on legendary Shelly Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, a four time World Championships gold medalist in the event and owner of 13 global outdoor titles in the sprints and relays. Their showdown lived up to expectations as they passed their respective batons almost even, with Fraser-Pryce maybe a few inches ahead.
That was the end of the story for gold, though, as TeeTee Terry motored down the backstretch to give the Americans a lead before she delivered the stick to Kayla White. White navigated the wet bend well and when she handed off to Sha'Carri Richardson for the anchor, U.S. hopes were in good hands as the woman who also anchored the gold medal effort in Budapest two years ago staved off all challengers to take gold in 41.75, the third straight win for the Americans. Jamaica earned silver in 41.79 and Germany took bronze in 41.87.
Conditions for the final of the men's 5000 were a bit kinder than for the 10,000 earlier in the week, and Americans Grant Fisher and Nico Young darted to the lead through 1K in 2:40.40, with Olympic 1500 champion Cole Hocker eighth and 1.48 seconds back. Young took the pace through 2K in 5:15.12 and had Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet right next to him with Fisher a half-stride back.
Gebrhiwet moved past Young and led for a while before Fisher again took over to go by 3K in a solid 7:51.78. Young was fourth and Hocker ninth and the pack started to squeeze together again. Olympic champion and two-time defending world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, stinging after failure in the 1500, decided to push the pace and moved up from 14th to the lead at 4K in 10:32.16.
Almost the entire field was still in striking distance as the bell rang for the final lap, including Hocker in 12th. Over the last 300, Hocker started picking off people and his vaunted finishing kick was on full display as nobody could respond as he ripped off a 38.61 to run away with the first American gold in the event since 2007, stopping the clock at 12:58.30. Hocker's final 200 was 25.50 and he covered the last 100 in 12.51 to become only the third U.S. runner to ever medal at the World Championships. Silver went to Belgium's Isaac Kimeli in 12:58.78 and bronze to 10,000 champion Jimmy Gressier of France, with Young sixth in 13:00.07, and Olympic bronze medalist Fisher eighth in 13:00.79.
Rain had started to pour down when the teams for the men's 4x400 relay stepped onto the track and the U.S. had four relatively fresh men set to go after the morning's unprecedented special match race with Kenya that earned them a berth in lane one. A wily veteran with four World Championships relay golds and a pair of Olympic golds, 33-year-old Vernon Norwood was charged with running the leadoff leg. USATF champion Jacory Patterson, Khaleb McRae, and 400 hurdles gold medalist Rai Benjamin rounded out a team that would take on the heavily favored Botswana squad that had emerged as a world power with two medalists in the 400 final.
A deluge that was probably reminiscent of his days at LSU greeted Norwood, who was four lanes inside Botswana's Lee Eppie. Water was much deeper in lane one than any other lane, but that didn't bother Norwood as he handed off in first after a magnificent 44.60 split. Patterson kept the lead, albeit a slim one, over Botswana with a 44.22 carry, and handed to McRae with a half-second lead. McRae's 44.61 split on the third leg put the Americans .19 up on Botswana as he gave the stick to Benjamin for what promised to be an epic battle on anchor.
Marshaling his resources over the first 200 of the final lap, Benjamin held the lead and stayed at the front into the homestretch, but on the run-in to the line he couldn't stave off 400 gold medalist Collen Kebinatshipi, who earned Botswana's first gold in 2:57.76 with a 44.14 carry. Benjamin strained in the final strides to complete a 44.40 split that gave the American foursome silver over a hard-charging Zakithi Nene of South Africa by .002 seconds in 2:57.83.
As good as his first day in the men's decathlon was, scoring 4,707 to lead by more than 150 points, Kyle Garland had to know he was in trouble right away on day two when he clattered a couple barriers in the 110 hurdles and finished well off his lifetime best with a 14.30 to lose some ground to his challengers. A pair of fouls in the discus and a best throw of 48.06/157-8 put even more pressure on him before a subpar 4.80/15-9 in the pole vault opened the door wide for Germany's Leo Neugebauer and Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico.
In the penultimate event of the 10-discipline challenge, Garland had a monster foul in the javelin and could manage only 59.78/196-1, giving up the points lead for the first time since the long jump on Saturday. Neugebauer and Owens-Delerme eyed each other as the 1500 was set to start, and their chess match in the final event left Neugebauer as the champion with 8,804 points, 20 ahead of Owens-Delerme in the closest finish in meet history. Garland claimed bronze with 8,703, his third best score ever.
Heath Baldwin placed sixth with 8,337, and Harrison Williams used a winning 5.20/17-0.75 in the pole vault to help him place seventh with 8,269. It was the first time since Stuttgart in 1993 that the U.S. placed three men in the top eight in the event.
With reigning champion Mary Moraa of Kenya and Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain favored coming into the final of the women's 800, international newcomer Sage Hurta-Klecker had a big mountain to climb and was forced to test the depths of her speed endurance right away as that duo sped through the first lap in 55.67 led by Moraa. Hurta-Klecker was fourth in 56.06 and looked comfortable at that rapid pace.
Hodgkinson, with a limited racing schedule behind her this year due to injury, edged up on Moraa's shoulder through 600 in 1:25.21, and her British teammate Georgia Hunter Bell was also within a stride. Hurta-Klecker was .73 back of Hodgkinson but running her best race ever, and coming into the stretch run she was within a second of the front.
Another Kenyan, Lilian Odira, made a strong final push to chase down the British pair and caught them a few strides before the finish line, winning in a huge lifetime best and meet record of 1:54.62 and moving to No. 7 on the all-time performer list. Hunter Bell outleaned Hodgkinson by .01 for silver in a PB 1:54.90 to take over the No. 9 all-time performer spot, and Hurta-Klecker shattered her previous lifetime best with a 1:55.89 in fifth, becoming the third fastest American woman ever as she chopped almost two seconds off her previous PB.
TEAM USATF MEDALS (26)
GOLD (16)
Ryan Crouser, men's shot put (22.34/73-3.5) Mixed 4x400 relay (Bryce Deadmon, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Jenoah Mckiver, Alexis Holmes) (3:08.80, =meet record) Valarie Allman, women's discus (69.48/227-11) Tara Davis-Woodhall, women's long jump (7.13/23-4.75) Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, women's 100 (10.61, meet record) Cordell Tinch, men's 110 hurdles (12.99) Katie Moon, women's pole vault (4.90/16-0.75) Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400 (47.78) Rai Benjamin, men's 400 hurdles (46.52) Noah Lyles, men's 200 (19.52) Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, women's 200 (21.69) Anna Hall, women's heptathlon (6,888) Cole Hocker, men's 5000 (12:58.30) Women's 4x400 relay (Isabella Whittaker, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Aaliyah Butler, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone) (3:16.61, meet record) Women's 4x100 relay (Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, TeeTee Terry, Kayla White, Sha'Carri Richardson) (41.75) Men's 4x100 relay (Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Courtney Lindsey, Noah Lyles) (37.29)
SILVER (5)
Sandi Morris, women's pole vault (4.85/15-11) Jasmine Jones, women's 400 hurdles (52.08) Kenny Bednarek, men's 200 (19.58) Chase Jackson, women's shot put (20.21/66-3.75) Men's 4x400 relay (Vernon Norwood, Jacory Patterson, Khaleb McRae, Rai Benjamin) (2:57.83)
BRONZE (5)
Noah Lyles, men's 100 (9.89) Grace Stark, women's 100 hurdles (12.34) Curtis Thompson, men's javelin (86.67/284-4) Taliyah Brooks, women's heptathlon (6,581 - tie) Kyle Garland, men's decathlon (8,703)
RECORDS SET BY TEAM USATF
World
American
48.29 – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400 47.78 – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400
World Championships
=3:08.80 – Mixed 4x400 relay (Bryce Deadmon, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Jenoah Mckiver, Alexis Holmes) 10.61 – Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, women's 100 47.78 – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400 3:16.61 – Women's 4x400 relay (Isabella Whittaker, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Aaliyah Butler, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone)