RIO DE JANEIRO — Bested by Jamaica's Elaine Thompson in both the 100 and 200 meters earlier this week, the American women's sprint corps at last scored some revenge.
And they did it from the least favorable lane on the track, no less.
Marooned in Lane 1 despite running the fastest qualifying time in Thursday's prelims, the U.S. 4×100-meter relay team still got the baton around the track in a blistering 41.01 seconds to repeat as Olympic champs. The Americans pulled away from rival Jamaica on the third leg of the relay to win by 0.35 seconds. Great Britain finished bronze with a time of 41.77 seconds.
"It's really neat sharing with these special ladies," Allyson Felix said after the race. "We had fun out there."
It certainly didn't detract from the American victory that Felix, Tianna Bartoletta, English Gardner and Tori Bowie fell short of bettering the world record of 40.82 seconds set by the U.S. relay team back in 2012. In reality, this may have been the more impressive performance, considering how difficult it is to accelerate onto the straightaway from Lane 1's tight curve.
The Americans drew Lane 1 because of their unusual qualifying route. Their medal hopes appeared dead when they botched the second baton pass in their prelim Thursday morning, but they received a reprieve after judges upheld their protest that a Brazilian runner bumped Felix as she was preparing to make a handoff to Gardner. The U.S. then took full advantage of their second chance, easily beating their target of 42.7 seconds in a bizarre solo rerun to qualify for the final.
It was no surprise to see the U.S. and Jamaican women battling for gold considering their recent history.
Either the American or Jamaican women's 4×100-meter relay has won gold at every major international championship for the past 12 years, with the exception of the 2008 Olympics. They were favored to go 1-2 in Beijing too before both teams dropped the baton, resulting in disqualification.
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