SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas combined for America’s 14th gold medal and their 34th overall on the track on Saturday, finishing Olympic action at the Stade de France with a 4.23-second lead in the women’s 4×400 relay.

The gold medalists in the 400-meter hurdles and the 200-meter run decided the second and third legs for the United States, leaving Alexis Holmes with a lead of 30 meters that no longer gave up any ground.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who holds the fourth fastest time in the world in the 400 metres in addition to her recent world record in the hurdles, ran her leg in 47.71 seconds, 0.91 seconds faster than the next fastest woman in the field, Femke Bol, who led the Netherlands to silver.

The United States finished with a time of 3 minutes and 15.27 seconds, just 0.1 seconds slower than the world record set by the Soviet Union in 1988.

The 34 track and field medals were the most for the U.S. at a non-boycotted Games since the early 20th century, when there were more competitions and fewer countries. The 14 gold medals are the most at a non-boycotted Olympics since Bob Beamon, Tommie Smith and John Carlos led the U.S. to 15 victories in 1968.

No other country won more gold medals on this track than Kenya. Kenya and Great Britain were in second place behind the USA with 10 medals each.

Just before the women’s race, the men’s race was more exciting. Rai Benjamin, the gold medalist in the 400m hurdles, beat 200m champion Letsile Tebogo to give the USA a 0.1-second victory over Botswana – the final thriller in a nine-day competition full of thrillers.

Earlier, the United States had evened its medal tally of 32 at the Rio Games when high jumper Shelby McEwen took a surprise silver medal after losing a lengthy tiebreak to New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr, who celebrated by jumping into the fortunately inactive javelin zone.

Kenyan Wanyonyi wins the men’s 800m in another race decided by 0.01 seconds

In the men’s fast 800-meter race, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi beat Canada’s Marco Arop by 0.01 seconds in a photo finish, finishing in 1:41.19, just 0.28 seconds slower than the world record. American Bryce Hoppel’s national record of 1:41.67 was only good enough for fourth place.

Ingebrigtsen wins, this time in the 5,000

Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 5,000 metres in a relatively drama-free race after the highly anticipated 1,500-metre race four nights earlier against Britain’s Josh Kerr became a disappointing fourth -Place at the finish.

Ingebrigtsen won in 13 minutes and 13.66 seconds, securing her title at the last two World Championships.

Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi finished second and Grant Fisher from the USA finished third.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games