U.S. men and women sweep gold in 4x100m relay at World Championships
Noah Lyles won his third gold medal of the meet and Sha'Carri Richardson won her second
Jamaica may have reigned over the sprint world for a time, but the United States has taken it back.
On Saturday in Budapest, Hungary, the American men's and women's 4x100 meter relay teams won gold at the World Athletics Championships, just the third time the U.S. has swept the events at worlds and the first since 2007.
On the men's side, Noah Lyles won his third gold medal of the meet, anchoring his team to victory in 37.38 seconds. For the women, Sha'Carri Richardson ran a phenomenal anchor to fend off Jamaican rival Shericka Jackson, as the Americans posted a championships record time of 41.03 seconds.
It was the ninth world title in the event for the U.S. on both the men's and women's side. Lyles is the first man since Usain Bolt in 2015 to win gold in the 100, 200 and 4x100 at the same worlds.
The men were favorites on paper, especially since they had the last three World 100 gold medalists: leadoff Christian Coleman won in 2019, second leg Fred Kerley won in 2022, and Lyles won earlier in the week. The third leg was Brandon Carnes, who was fourth in the 100 at the U.S. Championships last month.
GOLD FOR @TEAMUSA in the 4x100m relay! 🥇#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/j1LaFDwdTH
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 26, 2023
Not surprisingly given the ignominious history of the men's 4x100 team at worlds, the handoffs were not clean, but thankfully it didn't matter — Coleman ran up on Kerley, and Kerley ran up on Carnes (meaning the outgoing men started their takeoff acceleration late). The U.S., Jamaica, Italy and Great Britain were all quite close when Lyles got the baton, and he used the 200 speed that has garnered him three straight world championships in that event to pull away from the pack.
Italy finished with silver in 37.62 seconds, and Jamaica won bronze at 37.76.
The American women were favorites as well, though Jamaica's team was predictably strong.
Youngster Tamari Davis, the 20-year-old who finished third at the U.S. Championships in the 100 and qualified for the final in that event here, showed she isn't afraid of the big stage with her leadoff leg. TeeTee Terry, who anchored the gold-medal winning team last year, was the second leg alongside Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Terry handed off to 200 silver medalist Gabby Thomas, who gave Richardson the lead that she never relinquished to Jackson.
Jackson was the 100 silver medalist and 200 gold medalist, running the second-fastest time in event history in the process.
Jamaica was the silver medalist (41.21 seconds) and Great Britain took bronze (41.97).
Also on Saturday, shot putter Chase Ealey defended her 2022 gold medal with a season-best of 20.43 meters (67 feet, 1/3 inch). She is the only American woman to ever win gold in the event, and her win also meant a U.S. sweep: world record holder Ryan Crouser won his second consecutive men's shot put gold on Day 1 of the meet.
With one day of competition remaining, the United States is dominating the medal table with 27 total (11 gold); Jamaica is closest in the count with 11 medals (three gold).