Saint-Denis, France – Razorback sprinters Kaylyn Brown and Amber Anning collected Olympic silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the final of the mixed 4 x 400m relay on a wet Saturday evening at Stade de France.
Meanwhile, Ryan Crouser made Olympic history with a third consecutive gold medal in the shot put. His winning mark of 75-1.75 (22.90) came in the third round after efforts of 74-3.5 (22.64) and 74-5.5 (22.69).
Ayden Owens-Delerme completed the second day of the decathlon with a final score of 8,437 points that placed the Arkansas alum ninth overall in his Olympic debut. The trio of medals were claimed by Markus Rooth of Norway (8,796), Leo Neugebauer of Germany (8,748), and Lindon Victor of Grenada (8,711).
A day after setting the world record in the mixed 4 x 400m relay, the United States faced a stern challenge from the Netherlands with Femke Bol running the anchor leg in 47.93 seconds to secure a 3:07.43 victory. It just missed the world record of 3:07.41 set in prelims by the USA.
Brown split a sterling 49.14 as the anchor leg for the United States, who used the same line-up that established a world record in the prelims. In the final the USA
Vernon Norwood opened with a 44.50 split that only trailed a 44.30 from Alexander Doom of Belgium. Shamier Little then covered the second leg in 49.40 that only trailed a 49.30 by Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands.
Bryce Deadmon maintained the USA edge with a 44.70 third leg as Belgium had the same time of 2:18.60 at the final exchange. Belgium would end up fourth in a national record of 3:09.36.
As the Razorback teammates raced against each other on the anchor leg, Bol bid her time to make a move at the precise moment. She moved the Netherlands from fourth to first place on the final lap of the race.
Anning blazed a 48.81 anchor leg split to move the British into third place for bronze in a national record of 3:08.81.
Following a dry first couple of rounds of the shot put, rain fell and made the ring a bit slick. American Joe Kovacs moved into silver medal position with a final round heave of (22.15) to collect his third consecutive Olympic silver behind Crouser.
Jamaican Rajindra Campbell settled for bronze despite having the same mark as Kovacs. A better secondary mark of 71-2.75 (21.71) to a 65-7.5 (20.00) for Campbell.
Sunday’s schedule at the Paris Olympics will include a trio of Razorbacks in men’s long jump qualifying with Jarrion Lawson, Carey McLeod, and Wayne Pinnock. On the track, Chris Bailey runs the first round of the 400m while Anna Cockrell and Gianna Woodruff race in the opening round of the 400m hurdles.
Shafiqua Maloney, fresh off a national record in the prelims, races in the 800m semifinal.
