Getty Image / Michael Steele
Typically, it’s Team USA Swimming that starts the Summer Olympics off with a slew of world records, while track and field waits until the second week of competition to make their mark.
But, with a slow pool in Paris at La Defense Arena and a USA Swimming Team that is not winning a lot of gold medals compared to past games, they haven’t set any world records in the pool. Thankfully, USA Track and Field got the Stars and Stripes their first world record of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Friday in the Mixed4x400M Relay preliminaries.
The Mixed 4x400M Relay features the two men running the first and third legs, and the two women running the second and fourth legs, with each runner running one lap around the track.
Friday evening in Paris featured the preliminaries for the event, which is only in its second Olympic Games. While the USA was definitely expected to qualify in 1st place, no one imagined that they would dominate to the level that they did, coming home in 3:07.41
Kaylyn Brown seals the deal for the United States and sets a NEW WORLD RECORD in the mixed 4x400m relay! 🇺🇸 #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC, E! and Peacock pic.twitter.com/ulflh5oZxF
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 2, 2024
Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon, and Kaylyn Brown made up the team, and they had an outstanding performance. That final leg by Kaylyn Brown was unreal, considering she could’ve cruised home to an 1st place finish and automatic qualifying berth in the finals on Saturday.
But, you’re allowed to replace one member of the team for the finals, and while you’d still get a medal, it’s much cooler to actually run and win in the final. These four ran like they wanted to keep their spots for the finals.
At this point, it would be hard to not let these four run the finals. Not only did they set a world record in the prelims, but they qualified 1st by a whopping three seconds, which is a huge gap in that event.