Allyson Felix captured the 11th Olympic medal of her career at the Tokyo Games on Saturday as the United States won the women's 4x400-meter relay for the seventh straight games.
A day after winning bronze in the 400 to become the most decorated female track athlete in Olympic history, Felix landed on the top step of the podium to close the curtain on her fifth and final games.
"I just came out really at peace, and wanting to soak it all in. Obviously, complete confidence in the team," said the 35-year-old Felix, who has now won seven gold medals.
"It was really cool to come together to get to close out the Olympic Games, and for me my Olympic career in this way."
On another humid day in the Japanese capital, the United States clocked 3 minutes, 16.85 seconds for gold. Poland ran 3:20.53 and Jamaica finished with 3:21.24 at the National Stadium, which will stage the games' closing ceremony on Sunday evening.
The U.S. team of Felix, Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu led from the start to finish at the near-empty stadium where only Olympic officials and athletes cheered vocally from the stands.
Asked to share her favorite moment at these games, Felix said it was standing on the top of the podium with her team.
"I took a moment to just close my eyes and just take it in for one last time. To be surrounded by these women in the moment was really special," she said.
The United States also dominated the men's race, winning its 18th gold medal in the event after coming from behind to cross the line ahead of the Netherlands and Botswana.
After Michael Norman battled back from behind in the second leg, Rai Benjamin, who took silver in the 400-meter hurdles on Tuesday, anchored the team to a 2:55.70 finish.
The Netherlands took silver with 2:57.18 and Botswana bronze with 2:57.27.
In the men's 1,500 meters, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen came from behind in the final sprint to win with an Olympic record of 3:28.32. Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot was close to marking his Olympic debut with a gold medal, but just missed out when he clocked 3:29.01.
In the men's javelin, Neeraj Chopra made history by becoming the first Olympic athletics gold medalist from India. He beat Czech throwers Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezslav Vesely, who finished with silver and bronze, respectively.
Russian Mariya Lasitskene won the women's high jump final with a leap of 2.04 meters, while Australian Nicola McDermott took silver just 2 centimeters behind. Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine won bronze.
It was another difficult day for Japanese athletes at the National Stadium but Ririka Hironaka crossed seventh in the women's 10,000 meters to become the first Japanese to finish in the top eight of the event for 25 years.
"I think what I gained the most from these (Olympics) was to be aggressive, which I wasn't last year," Hironaka said. "I was able to gain confidence by running three races in a short time, I think it was a race that I can build on."
The race was won by Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, her second gold and third medal of the games.
Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey led for the majority of the race, after overtaking Hironaka who was up front for the first 2,700 meters. Gidey took bronze after she was passed by Hassan and Bahrain's Kalkidan Gezahegne.
Japan's Hitomi Niiya and Yuka Ando finished 21st and 22nd respectively.
Related coverage:
Olympics: Italy wins men's 4x100 gold as Japan botches baton change
Olympics: Bahamas' Steven Gardiner wins men's 400
Olympics: Canada's De Grasse gets his gold in men's 200 sprint
