Team USA | Cool, Calm And A Tad Clumsy, Rai Benjamin Dethrones Norwegian King To Become 400-Meter Hurdles Champion

It wasn’t the dream two days that Budapest 2023 world championships silver medalist and world No. 1 ranked heptathlete Anna Hall had hoped for. But, the budding star fought through the pain and posted an incredible finish – and a win in the final event – all while entering her seventh month of recovering from knee surgery.

Hall entered the final event of the women’s Olympic heptathlon – the women’s 800-meters in fifth place, aware that an extraordinary time and placing could result in a bronze medal.

The Denver resident dashed out to the lead, pushed the pace as she knew she had to. She won the 800-meters clocking 2:04.39, but it wasn’t enough to make up the points and land in the medals. She finished fifth.

The 23-year-old scored 6,615-points, short of the 6,720 she tallied in Budapest, and 92-points behind bronze medalist Noor Vidts of Belgium.

Vidts’ Belgian teammate Nafi Thiam surpassed Katarina Johnson-Thompson over the final event to emphatically capture her third consecutive Olympic hepathlon gold medal, scoring 6,880 points.

Thiam became the first heptathlete in history to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals.

Bronx, New York, native Salif Mane has taken the triple jump by storm, leaping to victories at this summer’s NCAA Championships and Olympic Team Trials – Track and Field, in Eugene, Oregon.

The recent graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, and 22-year-old triple jumper took to the Olympic stage in Paris – his first-ever competition overseas – and uncorked his best of six jumps in the final round. Mane jumped 17.41-meters, just off his personal best of 17.42, which he accomplished at the trials in Oregon.

It was long enough for a solid sixth-place showing, a result that the New Yorker was rightfully proud of.

“All the emotions, everything went into that last jump – I definitely had more in me, I buckled a little bit, but it felt great,” Mane said.  “It was awesome – the crowd was into it and I thank them for that.

“It was a great feeling to come here to France, represent my country, and go out there make the final, make the top eight, and then finish sixth in the world,” he said.

Mane relished watching fellow New York state native Rai Benjamin win gold, catching the race just as he entered the mixed zone interview area.

“I’m happy for Rai putting that on for the state – we needed that and I hope to follow his footsteps as an Olympic champion and it means a lot to represent New York,” Mane said.

The recent FDU graduate in civil engineering summed up his overall experience in France.

“Representing Team USA has been a phenomenal past two weeks and I’m very grateful,” he said.