BATON ROUGE – LSU Track & Field alumnus Richard Thompson anchored the favored Americas to the gold medal in the men’s 4×100-meter relay final at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup on Sunday while crossing the finish line in 37.97 seconds for the fastest time ever run on African soil in the event held at the Grand Stade in Marrakech, Morocco.
According to the official meet report featured on IAAF.org, the Americas were the men’s sprint relay favorites running with a team of St. Kitts & Nevis international Kim Collins running the first leg, American champion Mike Rodgers running the second leg, Jamaican standout Nesta Carter running the third leg and Thompson anchoring.
They turned in the fastest 4×100-meter relay time ever run on African soil with their blistering 37.97 to cross the finish line more than a half second over the rest of the field lining up at the IAAF Continental Cup.
Thompson cruised to the victory ahead of Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre as the Europeans followed well back in second place at 38.62 for the silver medal. The host continent of Africa bagged the bronze medal with a time of 39.10 for third place, while Asia-Pacific rounded out the field with a time of 39.50 for fourth place.
It’s the second relay team Thompson has anchored to the medal podium during the 2014 outdoor season as he also anchored his home nation of Trinidad & Tobago to a bronze medal at the 20th Commonwealth Games back on Aug. 4 in the event held at Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.
Thompson adds another medal to his already impressive resume in international competition dating back to his senior season at LSU in 2008. He is already a three-time Olympic silver medalist by striking silver in both of the 100-meter dash and 4×100-meter relay in Beijing in 2008 before defending his country’s Olympic silver medal in London in 2012. Thompson also anchored Trinidad & Tobago to the silver medal in the sprint relay five years ago at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics during to highlight his 2009 outdoor season.