Dutch athlete runs 47.93 split to overtake world record-holders United States as Britain earn their first athletics medal of the 2024 Paris Games

Femke Bols anchor leg in the mixed 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympics is likely to be played and re-played many times in coming years. The tall Dutch athlete was a scintillating sight as she took the Netherlands from a fighting fourth and up into first place. Her split? An amazing 47.93.

A total of 32 sprinters from eight teams lined up for an event that made its Olympic debut in Tokyo three years ago. But afterwards everyone was talking about just one athlete.

The mouth waters at the prospect of a showdown with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in her specialist 400m hurdles event later in these Games.

As rain began to pour in the Stade de France on Saturday evening, Bol had a huge amount of work to do as she took the baton. But she ran down firstly Naomi van Den Broeck of Belgium, then Amber Anning of Great Britain and Northern Ireland before finally overhauling Kaylyn Brown of the United States as Brown ran a 49.14 split.

Just 24 hours earlier the Americans had set a world record of 3:07.41 but this time they ran slightly slower as the Netherlands clocked 3:07.43 ahead of the United States 3:07.74 with the Brits smashing their national record by well over two seconds with 3:08.01.

Bol even had a metre or two to spare at the end as she punched the air crossing the line. Turning to her team-mates Eugene Omalla (45.30), Lieke Klaver (49.30) and Isaya Klein Ikkink (44.90) they set off on a lap of honour that coincided with Ryan Crouser taking the applause of the crowd for his shot put win.

On her fast split, Bol said: I hoped to run that fast some time but in the relay you never look too much at split times. Its more about putting it together as a team and technically you have to race it well.

I just went for it. We just wanted a medal this time, we didnt think it would be gold, just a medal. Well, we got gold and are the Olympic champions. It is absolutely crazy for a small country like ours.

And on that final mesmerising home straight effort, she added: I thought just keep going, keep going. That and my team-mates cheering me. And the atmosphere in this stadium is absolutely incredible. Its crazy.

Sam Reardon got the Brits off to a great start with Laviai Nielsen keeping the team in contention on the second leg before Alex Haydock-Wilson ran an aggressive third leg.

After not running in the heat, the British champion Anning was brought in for the final and produced a brilliant anchor to secure a medal, albeit she had to deal with Bol blasting past her in the home straight.

Anning said: We have trained so hard for this. To bring away a medal including Nicole (Yeargin, who ran the anchor in the heats) is just so special. It has been a long year for me and I still have a lot more to go during these Games.

We have just run the fourth fastest time ever. It took a team for us to get here, there has been so much support and love from everyone.

Nielsen also paid tribute to the wider squad: With the mixed team, we have about 16 athletes who have come together over the last few years, so we have done a lot of practices together and gelled really well as a whole entire squad.

Reardon added: It was an electric atmosphere. When I went into my block setups, the French team were hyping up the crowd, so I kind of fed on that energy and that carried me through.

Haydock-Wilson said: I am really proud of the team. Sam deserves this and he came out here and did exactly what he needed to do. I couldnt be prouder of this whole squad.