Paris Olympics 2024: USA breaks 4x400m mixed relay world record in heats

The USA team becomes first team to go sub 3:08 in the 4x400m mixed relay event.

Little more than an hour into the first stadium evening session of athletics at the Paris Olympics 2024, the first track and field world record was broken by USA in the mixed 4x400m relay. The quartet of Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown clocked 3:07.41 to smash the previous mark – set when the USA won the world title in Budapest last year – by more than a second.

“We talked about it was going to take a record to get a medal, but it took a record to win our prelim,” Little said during Paris Olympics 2024.

Norwood ran 44.47 seconds to put the US team into an early lead, then Little extended it on the second leg by running 49.32, the fastest lap of any woman in the preliminary round. Deadmon opened up a significant gap on the chasing pack with a 44.17-second third leg before Brown anchored them to a clear victory in 49.45 seconds.

Brown crossed the line more than three seconds ahead of France, who set a national record of 3:10.60. Belgium was third in 3:10.74, also a national record at Paris Olympics 2024. Six countries in all established national records in the heats, in addition to the USA world record.

Norwood said his lead-off job was to create enough space to avoid any potential issues with the handoff, but Little had to adjust where she took the handoff when she realised, as Norwood was approaching her, that she was not standing in the correct position. Little opened a lead that Deadmon expanded on the third leg.

“I think we did an extreme job of getting out in front with clean exchanges because you know how tricky it can get,” Norwood said.

Also Read: Paris Olympics 2024: Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei wins gold in men’s 10,000m with new Olympic record

Deadmon ran in the heats at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for the US team that eventually earned a bronze medal, but called the raucous, loud atmosphere inside Stade de France at Paris Olympics 2024 entirely different, adding the volume from the filled stadium took him by surprise.

“We knew what it would take to break the world record,” Norwood said. “Our job is just to come out and execute. Hopefully tomorrow we do it again.”

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram