Athing Mu and Sydney McLaughlin win second Olympic gold as Allyson Felix makes history in Tokyo on Saturday

USA won the 4x400m in the fifth fastest time in history of 3:16.85 in the final women’s track event of the Tokyo Games on Saturday night.

They did so with only one real 400m specialist – and even then you could argue she has been a far better 200m runner over her long brilliant career. That athlete is Allyson Felix and she won a record 10th Olympic medal, although she was actually probably the weak link of an incredible quartet.

The world 400m hurdles record-holder and Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin led them off with a 50.2 opener and that was joint first with a stunning run from Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland, who ran half a second quicker than she had ever done before (50.72).

Netherlands got a great start too with Lieke Klaver (50.6) just ahead of Jamaica’s Roneisha McGregor (50.6), Canada’s Alicia Brown (50.9), Cuban Zurian Hechavarria (51.5) and Belgium’s Naomi Van den Broeck (51.9). In last place, though, things didn’t go as planned for GB who brought in individual semi finalist Ama Pipi who had run a near PB 51.17 in her Tokyo heat but here was a disappointing 52.3.

Britain had Olympic finalist Jodie Williams on leg two and she blasted the opening 200m to try and bring Britain back and probably overdid it as her two sub-50 individual efforts took their toll, but she did move the team up to fifth with a blinding 49.4 leg.

However the medallists were in the distance. Felix ran a controlled 49.3 to hand over ahead in 1:39.59, five metres up on the inspired Poles (1:40.20) after a 49.9 by Iga Baumgart-Witan.

Jamaica were third on 1:40.71 after a 50.0 by Janieve Russell, just ahead of a surprising Canada on 1:40.90 (Madeline Price with 49.9) and despite Williams’ heroics Britain were seven metres adrift in 1:41.74 but they had passed Belgium (1:42.03), Netherlands (1:42.60) and Cuba (1:42.89).

Hurdles silver medallist Dalilah Muhammad stretched USA’s lead with a 48.94 and they handed over on 2:28.53, well over 10 metres clear of Poland (Malgorzata Holub Kowalik 49.89) on 1:40.20 and they still had a good gap on Canada (Kyra Constantine 49.98), who were still in a medal position but had Jamaica an inch behind after a slightly disappointing 50.18 by the Olympic 100m medallist Shericka Jackson.

The ultra reliable Emily Diamond kept Britain in the mix with another strong leg of 50.41 but they were 10 metres back in 2:32.15 but with a good margin on Belgium (2:33.07), Netherlands (2:34.77) and Cuba (2:35.16).

Though she had a clear lead, 800m champion Athing Mu, who could easily have challenged for a 400m medal had she contested the shorter event, did not ease back at all and flowed beautifully with her long graceful stride down the straight to complete a 48.32 last leg and give the USA a near four-second winning margin.

Incredibly, Poland had never won an Olympic women’s 4x400m medal despite world successes and European champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic put that right with an assured 50.44 leg after holding back considerably over the first half and Poland’s 3:20.53 was a clear national record.

Candice McLeod closed with a 50.35 which saw off Canada’s Sage Watson 50.96 as Jamaica took bronze in 3:21.24 by around five metres.

Experienced NCAA relay competitor Nicole Yeargin ran a controlled and solo final leg of 50.44 to complete Britain’s third fastest ever 4x400m as they ran a fine season’s best of 3:22.59.

Closing fast in sixth were the Netherlands thanks to 400m hurdles bronze medallist Femke Bol, whose 48.97 – the third quickest of the race – brought home the Dutch in a national record 3:23.74.

They had a great battle with Belgium who ran a national record 3:23.96 with Cuba a tailed-off last.

Pipi said: “It’s the fastest we’ve run in a long time and I think we have a lot of potential. This Olympics has been amazing. It’s my first one and we’ve made the final so lots to look forward to.”

Williams said: “It’s been a crazy Olympics. I’d have loved to have come out here and medalled with these girls as I know there’s potential to and we will do in the future. 

“Oregon (venue of World Champs in 2022) is right by my second home, so I’m used to that kind of weather, I’m excited to run on that track, but I know that next year we’ll come out here and we’ll represent, and we’ll be on that podium.”

Diamond said: “It was bittersweet. We have such a strong team at the moment and we knew we were in a great position to turn a place in the top three and we went out there fighting today and all of us put everything on the line.”

Yeargin said: “It’s crazy how fast the 4×400 goes by. There will always be next year, so we’ll just come back even stronger. I came out here knowing that it wasn’t going to be like NCAAs, where you can probably catch a big gap, so I just tried my best to hold on and I’ll continue to do that for next year. “