USA, Women’s Olympics Track and Field 4x400m Qualifying Results; McLaughlin Sits

Adam WellsAugust 9, 2024

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images

Team USA posted the fastest time in the women’s 4×400-meter relay to qualify for Saturday’s final.

Despite not having Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who sat out the qualifying heat, the American quartet of Quanera Hayes, Shamier Little, Aaliyah Butler and Kaylyn Brown finished in 3:21.44 to win the first heat.

Great Britain finished second overall, followed by France, Jamaica and Belgium rounding out the top five.

Here are the results from both qualifying heats from Friday.

4×400-Meter Qualifying – Heat 1

United States: 3:21.44Great Britain: 3:24.72France: 3:24.73Belgium: 3:24.92Spain: 3:28.29Norway: 3:28.61Switzerland: 3:29.75Cuba: 3:33.994×400-Meter Qualifying – Heat 2

Jamaica: 3:24.92Netherlands: 3:25.03Ireland: 3:25.05Canada: 3:25.77Italy: 3:26.50Poland: 3:26.69Germany: 3:26.95India: 3:32.51Top four teams in each heat qualify for final. Full results via Olympics.com.

McLaughlin-Levrone won her third career gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles on Thursday. She also broke her own world record in the process with a time of 50.37 seconds in the final.

The 27-year-old did make it known after her triumph in the hurdles that she would be available in the 4×400-meter race if her name was called.

“I’m always here,” McLaughlin-Levrone said, “if they need me.”

Given how well Team USA fared in qualifying, McLaughlin-Levrone’s services may not be needed. Their winning time of 3:21.44 was a season best. Little, Butler and Brown all posted the fastest time during their leg of the race. Hayes, who led off for America, posted the second-fastest time in her leg (51.27 seconds).

None of the seven other countries that qualified for the final finished within three seconds of the United States’ time. Great Britain came the closest with a season-best time of 3:21.44.

McLaughlin-Levrone did win gold in the 4×400-meter relay at the Tokyo Games with the U.S. team after not participating in the qualifying heat. She led off the final and set the pace for the Americans en route to the country’s seventh straight Olympic gold medal.

The last time the United States didn’t win gold in this event was at the Barcelona Games in 1992. It finished behind the Unified Team—a joint team consisting of athletes from 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics—to take home a silver medal.

Team USA will go for gold in the 4×400-meter relay final on Saturday at 3:14 p.m. ET.