When the U.S. women’s 4x400-meter team won its sixth consecutive gold medal Saturday at the Rio 2016 Olympics, New York City could claim its share of the victory.
Two team members are native New Yorkers: Phyllis Francis of Laurelton, Queens, and Natasha Hastings, of Brooklyn and Rosedale, Queens.
Francis, Hastings, Courtney Okolo and anchor Allyson Felix finished in 3 minutes, 19.06 seconds to take the top spot.
This was Francis' first Olympics and her first gold medal. Once a cross-country star at a now-shuttered all-girls Catholic school in East Flatbush, the Olympian placed fifth in the 400-meter race.
Hastings, born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, helped the U.S. women's 4x400-meter team clinch gold in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. She's an alumnus of A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem.
Francis and Hastings celebrated their triumph online, supported by hurrahs from their fellow New Yorkers: