If you’re looking to capture the women’s 4x100m relay gold medal at the IAAF World Championships, it helps to have the world’s fastest woman.
Team USA enjoyed a dominant anchor leg run by the individual 100m champion, Tori Bowie, as the four-woman team cruised to victory at 41.82 seconds.
“I felt really confident, especially in my teammates,” Tori said. “We just kept everything really simple, trusted each other and came out here and got the job done. I think we’re all pretty grateful tonight.”
The race took shape in the third leg as Team USA was beginning to mount a lead after strong runs by Aaliyah Brown, Allyson Felix and Morolake Akinosun—but they encountered some trouble on the exchange between Akinosun and Tori. But they kept their composure.
“We got really deep into the zone, but I was confident that I was going to get the baton to Tori, even if it was going to be a little late,” Akinosun said.
As Tori admitted afterward, she was a bit impatient as she looked back for the baton to ensure a clean exchange, but then, the adidas sprinter did what she does best. TB showed her world-class speed and pulled away from the competition to grab her second gold medal at Worlds this year.