On the final day of track and field competition at the Paris Olympic Games, Kentucky Track and Field athletes secured four medals, including three gold, bringing their total haul for the week to a program-best six medals.
Masai Russell captured the gold medal in the 100m hurdles in a thrilling photo finish, while Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the defending gold medalist from Tokyo, claimed the bronze. This marks the second consecutive Olympics where the gold medalist in the 100m hurdles has hailed from Kentucky, and the second straight Games where two Wildcats have stood on the podium in the event.
In the women’s 4x400m relay, Kentucky athletes made up half of the gold medal-winning American team, which also set a new American record. Alexis Holmes earned her first Olympic medal, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone added her second gold of these Games, bringing her career total to four Olympic golds. The team posted a time of 3:15.27, the second-fastest in history and just one-tenth of a second shy of the world record. McLaughlin-Levrone’s second leg secured a lead that Team USA never relinquished, and Holmes anchored the team to victory, finishing over 30 meters ahead of the silver-medal Dutch team. Both Holmes and McLaughlin-Levrone won SEC titles in the 4x400m relay during their time at Kentucky, with Holmes also claiming an NCAA title in the event in 2022.
In the 100m hurdles final, three of the eight competitors were Kentucky athletes, but it was 2023 graduate Masai Russell who emerged victorious. In her first Olympic appearance, Russell leaned at the finish line to win the gold medal in a time of 12.33 seconds, triumphing by just one one-hundredth of a second. This victory continues Kentucky’s dominance in the event, following Camacho-Quinn’s gold in Tokyo. Russell, the collegiate record holder, won her first major international title in one of the most competitive fields in history. She had previously secured her spot in Paris with a gold-medal run at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, clocking a world-leading 12.25 seconds.
Camacho-Quinn’s bronze in the 100m hurdles made her the first Puerto Rican athlete to win multiple Olympic medals. Adding to her Tokyo gold, the three-time NCAA champion finished the race in 12.36 seconds, earning her place on the podium and becoming the second Wildcat to win multiple Olympic medals, alongside McLaughlin-Levrone.
Volunteer Assistant Coach Devynne Charlton also competed in the 100m hurdles final, finishing in sixth place with a time of 12.56 seconds. The Bahamian athlete, who trains in Lexington with Russell, is the world record holder in the indoor 60m hurdles and matched her sixth-place finish from Tokyo.
Kentucky Track and Field concluded the Paris Olympics with six medals – four gold, one silver, and one bronze. This achievement surpasses the program’s previous record of five medals won at the Tokyo Olympics.