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Olympic Track and Field 2021: Mixed 4x400M Relay Winners, Times and Results
July 31, 2021
Poland captured the first-ever gold medal in the 4x400 mixed relay at the Summer Olympics.
Anchor runner Kajetan Duszynski pulled off the victory after a thrilling final 400 meters that saw four nations fight for the three medals.
Vernon Norwood put the United States into third place with a strong finish down the final bend, but he was beaten to silver at the line by Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic.
Ogando and Norwood both beat out Ramsey Angela of the Netherlands from the four-team pack that broke away during the final two legs of the race.
1. Poland: 3:09.87
2. Dominican Republic: 3:10.21
3. United States: 3:10.22
4. Netherlands: 3:10.36
5. Belgium: 3:11.51
6. Great Britain: 3:12.07
7. Jamaica: 3:14.95
8. Ireland: 3:15.04
9. Germany: DQ
Highlights
Duszynski emerged from the leading group of runners during the final 50 meters to spring a bit of a surprise in the Olympics' inaugural mixed track and field relay event.
In addition to winning the gold, Poland broke its own Olympic record of 3:10.44, which it set in the preliminary round.
The United States, which boasts the mixed relay world record, could only muster a third-placed finish with a weakened lineup of 400-meter runners. None of the competitors in the final relay team finished above third place in the 400 meters at the Olympic trials. Even then, the Americans were in competition for the gold until Poland sped ahead.
Norwood anchored the American team that included Trevor Stewart, Kendall Ellis and Kaylin Whitney. Each nation had men run the first and final legs and the women compete in the two middle legs.
Ogando and Norwood were separated by one-hundredth of a second at the finish line. The Netherlands came up short in the four-team sprint to the line, finishing 14-hundredths of a second behind the United States.
The four front-runners were expected to have some competition from Jamaica, but the Caribbean nation was not involved in the race to the finish line because of a collision on one of the exchanges with Germany, which was disqualified because of that coming together.
Poland earned five total gold medals at the past two Olympics, and all of those medals came in field events. Saturday's win gave the country its first gold and second overall medal of the Tokyo Olympics.