There was all the joy and woe of track and field at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games Friday night.

The photo above captures it all. 

The iconic Paris rain couldn't stop the US women's 4x100 from celebrating their dominating gold medal victory that came with a moment made for Prime Time, all the while the rain only dampened the mood for the men's 4x100, who were plagued with misfortune once again. 

Records fell. Medals were won. 

Friday was another star-studded night inside the Stade de France. 

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Sha'Carri Richardson Delivers A Look - And Anchor Leg - For The Ages To Bring US Women's 4x100 Gold

The look said it all. 

Sha'Carri Richardson would not be denied a gold medal in Paris. 

The US women's team have an incredible streak of medals in this event, and Friday night in Paris was no different, despite having to battle with the rain, and a comeback that spawned what's destined to become known as The Look. 

The US women toed the line with 11 gold medals in the history of this event, and 41.78-seconds after starting, they made it 12. 

Though the 12th gold didn't come easy - despite the US being the favorite. 

Rain created an additional challenge with baton-handoffs, and while the US worked their way around the track, it was clear that Richardson would have her work cut out for her on the anchor leg. 

Richardson got the baton in the bronze position with several strides to be made up on the British squad.

So, she turned on the boosters, which where likely filled to the brim following her silver medal performance in the 100 earlier this week.

The Texas-native delivered a scorching final leg that took the US from fighting for a medal, to the most coveted medal all: gold.

And that's when The Look came. 

In an iconic moment made for Prime Time, Richardson glanced over her right shoulder as she blazed passed the British and the Germans. 

Her steely gaze was photographed as she seemingly plucked the gold medal out of Great Britain's hands. It instantly went viral - it captured the moment that the Americans re-established their dominance over the world in event. 

The quartet of Melissa Jefferson, Twanishia "TT" Terry, Gabby Thomas, and Richardson gave the US its first medal in the event since the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Add that it was Richardson, Jefferson, and Terry's first Olympic gold medal. (Thomas won gold in the 200 several nights ago.) 

Beatrice Chebet Makes History, Becomes First Woman To Win The 5,000 And 10,000 Double,

There were two historic pieces of Beatrice Chebet's victory. 

One was that she became the first woman to capture the 5/10 double. 

The second was that, as odd as this sounds, she was the first Kenyan woman to win the 10,000. 

Per expectations of a high-caliber Olympic final, the race was highly tactical, with nearly a dozen still in the hunt for medals as the bell rang out at the Stade de France. 

All the favorites were in the mix, including defending champ Sifan Hassan (who's piecing together the most grueling triple ever - the 5,000, 10,000, and Sunday's marathon.)

The thought conjures up memories (reading, of course) of the late, great Emil Zatopek, who swept gold in the 5,000, 10,000, and marathon in the '52 Helsinki Olympics. 

Back to Chebet...

The Kenyan timed her kick to perfection to win her second gold of the Paris Olympics, running 30:43.35.

Chebet's party was nearly dashed, however, as Nadia Battoecletti was on the hunt to play spoilers. The Italian ran perhaps the second-best race in the field, kicking last, but running out of real estate. Regardless, Battoecletti's 30:43.45 silver medal performance was the stunner on the podium.

The double gold medalist from Tokyo - Hassan - would be denied any gold medals on the track this time around. She took bronze in 30:44. That made two bronze medals for her in Paris with the marathon still on tap. 

Marileidy Paulino Races Into The Record Books

It was a first, and a literal first for Marileidy Paulino. 

It was the first gold medal for a woman from the Dominican Republic across any Olympic event, and it was gold - in Olympic record fashion. 

Paulino was in a race of her own.

By 200 meters she had made up the stagger and was off racing the clock. 

She stopped it 48.17 seconds after launching out of the starting blocks. 

The performance marked her first Olympic gold medal, and added one more step for her to walk up on the podium, as she was the 2021 Tokyo silver medalist. 

But let's take a look at her 48.17, because that's where the record books - several of them - will need to be rewritten. 

Paulino's time is an Olympic Record, a national record, and a North American-Central American-Caribbean (NACAC) record.

US Men's 4x100 Plagued With Mistakes

In lei of ending this recap on something negative, we'll work our way around the track, one leg at a time (hopefully not dropping the baton, running out of our lane, or out of the exchange zone) as we cover the US men's 4x100 disaster. 

It had been 20 years since the US last medaled in this event. And now they'll have to wait another four years, because Friday's performance left us with more questions than answers. 

It goes without saying that there were high hopes for this all-star squad. Even without 100 meter gold medalist Noah Lyles on the roster due to a recent COVID diagnoses, the were still expectations. 

There'll be plenty to say about this in the coming days, weeks, and months, as the US will undoubtedly look for redemption in Los Angeles in four years, but for the moment, this one burns like a skidded fall to the track on a very hot, very dry summer day. 

Carl Lewis sure had a lot of thoughts following the race, and given the consistent failures in men's 4x100 in recent years, perhaps he has a point.

Without Lyles in the lineup there was a big shakeup in who ran what leg, and perhaps without any real time to adjust to the timing of handing off the baton, this was just always going to end up the way it did. 

It wasn't a seventh-place finish, which is where they finished. 

It was worse. 

It was a DQ.

#RedemptionInLA2028?

Redemption For Rai Benjamin

We'll put a cap on this on the topic of redemption, because everyone loves a feel-good story to end the night.

And given what was written above, this seems to be an ideal ending to the recap - along with the fact that the men's 400 Hurdles were the last event of the day. 

It works. 

An Olympic gold medal had been elusive for Rai Benjamin. 

But not anymore. 

Benjamin took silver in this event at the Tokyo Olympics, and he had four years to mull that one over. 

That much was evident, because it was all Benjamin inside the Stade de France Friday night.

The 27 year-old silenced any talk of there being an epic battle between him and 2023 world champion Karsten Warholm. 

Already, this race was billed to be a clash of the titans. And with good reason - three of the best to do it were on the track. 

Benjamin, Warholm, and 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos.

Despite the stellar field, Benjamin sprinted on like he was in a race of his own. 

With 120 meters of purple track remaining beneath his spikes, he went to the arms and telescoped away with his first gold medal in any world championships. 

Benjamin torched the field, running 46.36. 

His margin of victory was seven-tenths-of-a-second. 

Warholm took silver in 47.06, and dos Santos bronze in 47.26. 

Consider this: on the world stage Benjamin owns three silvers, one bronze, and now - one gold. 

Elusive no more.

When Are The Paris 2024 Olympic Games?

The Olympics begin on July 26 and end on August 11. The track and field events will began on Aug. 1. 

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