Great Britain added relay silver and bronze to their Olympic Games athletics haul on the penultimate night of track and field action at the Stade de France.
The women’s 4x100m quartet upgraded their bronze medals from Rio and Tokyo to silver, Team GB’s best performance in the event since 1956, as Sha’Carri Richardson’s flying anchor leg took the USA to gold.
The men, meanwhile, claimed bronze behind Canada and South Africa, as favourites USA were disqualified after a botched first changeover.
Britain’s women had laid down a marker with a world-leading time at London’s Diamond League meeting last month and qualified for the final by winning their heat despite resting star names Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith.
That pair returned to the line-up alongside Amy Hunt and Imani-Lara Lansiquot and may even have snatched gold were it not for shaky second and third changeovers.
"I was not going to let these ladies down,” said Neita, who brought the team home in 41.85seconds, seven-hundredths behind the US. “As soon as I got it I was like go go go and to be leaving with an Olympic silver medal and be on the podium, representing Great Britain, we are so proud.
“We’re so happy and it’s been such an amazing atmosphere in the stadium and we’ve got a medal!”
There were briefly fears that Britain might be disqualified after confusion over a potential lane infringement but the result was allowed to stand.
“There was so much chaos going on,” said 22-year-old Hunt, for whom this is a first Olympic medal. “But we were so well drilled as a team and that’s our biggest strength. We’re skilled, we’re smart ladies and we made sure we got in it and I’m so proud of these ladies.”
The men’s quartet of Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchcliffe, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Zharnel Hughes, meanwhile, ran a season’s best 37.61seconds in what became a wide open race after a mix-up between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek on America’s first change.
Britain had finished second in Tokyo, just one-hundredth of a second behind Italy, but were later disqualified after CJ Ujah tested positive for a banned substance. Mitchell-Blake and Hughes were both part of that team, while Richard Kilty will also receive a redemptive medal having run in the heats in Paris.
Hughes skipped the opening round having been forced out of the individual 200m with a hamstring problem and revealed he only was only given the go-ahead to race the final on Thursday night.
“My hamstring is heavily strapped,” he said. “It was a risk but I was willing to take it. I was willing to take it because it was the home straight. In the 200m I couldn’t because it’s on my outside leg, so me coming around the bend would have snapped it.
“The job’s done. We’re on the podium. I told them back in the village, as long as you guys can set the race up nicely, we’re going to be on the podium.”
