TOKYO — The United States men's track team waited for the final event at Olympic Stadium to win its first gold medal in a running event.
Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin finished the 1,600-meter relay in 2 minutes, 55.70 seconds on Saturday night to help the U.S. men avoid a gold-medal shutout.
The U.S. men's team entered Saturday with only one gold medal: Ryan Crouser's second consecutive gold medal in the shot put.
But they had not won a single gold medal in a running event. So the pressure was on the American men to win an event they have dominated.
Cherry led off and appeared behind other runners as he made the pass to Norman. Norman, who had faded in the 400-meter final, made up ground and gave Deadmon the lead. Deadmon extended the margin and Benjamin powered to the victory.
Benjamin's blaze to the finish for the gold medal was an apt reward after he ran a time faster than the world record in the 400-meter hurdles — only to finish behind Karsten Warholm of Norway, who established a new world record.
