Little more than an hour into the first stadium evening session of athletics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 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.
Norwood put the US team into an early lead, then Little extended it on the second leg. Deadmon opened up a significant gap on the chasing pack on leg three, then Brown anchored them to a clear victory, crossing 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.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
Credit: World AthleticsÂ
