America’s gold rush continued on Saturday night, with the American quartet taking gold in the women’s 4x100-meters relay at the World Athletics Championships.
The team of Aaliyah Brown, Allyson Felix, Morolake Akinosun, and Tori Bowie did not always have it easy in the final, though Bowie in the anchor leg held off a British charge to take another gold medal for the US team in a time of 41.82 seconds. It was the British quartet, in front of their home crowd, who took the silver medal in a time of 42.12 seconds. A weakened Jamaican quartet took bronze in a time of 42.91 seconds.
It was the German team who fell just short outside of the medals, finishing in fourth place, with the Swiss team finishing in fifth. Trinidad and Tobago finished in sixth place, with Brazil in seventh place and the Netherlands in eighth place.
American team hold on to secure another gold medal
It was undoubtedly a tricky race for the American team, who were the heavy favorites heading in, though an impressive anchor leg by Bowie, the individual 100m champion, saw off the British challenge from Daryll Neita and secured another gold from the United States.
It was the eventual medallists who got off to the best starts, to begin with, with Brown slightly ahead of both Britain’s Asha Philip and Jamaica’s Jura Levy, though a tight change over from Philip to Dina Asher-Smith saw them fall a tad behind, and a storming second leg from Felix ahead of Jamaica’s Natasha Morrison put America well and truly in the driving seat.
The changeover from Felix to Akinosun was clean, and the latter kept ahead of both Asher-Smith and Simone Facey, though her change over to Bowie was tight and heading into the final straight it looked as if Neita could pull off the slight upset. However, Bowie held firm and produced a great final leg to take gold, with Britain in second and Sashalee Forbes bringing home the Bronze for Jamaica.
One particular thing to note is that this medal makes Allyson Felix the most decorated athlete in World Championship history; her 15 medals put her one ahead of fellow all-time greats Merlene Ottey and Usain Bolt. Meanwhile, Ariana Washington will also receive a medal after replacing Bowie in the heats earlier on.