RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL -- An almost perfect race gave Kerron Clement (La Porte, Texas) his first Olympic 400m hurdles gold, while the 4x100m relays, women’s high jump and men’s shot put qualifying kicked off the action Thursday morning at Olympic Stadium.

Clement golden in men’s 400m hurdles

Clement, the 2008 silver medalist, had the slowest reaction time of the field but recovered to run a near-flawless race to win his first Olympic gold. Clement, the 2007 and 2009 world champion, had to reach a bit for the 10th hurdle but negotiated it cleanly and held off Kenya’s Boniface Tumuti on the sprint to the finish. Clement was victorious in 47.73, while Tumuti set a national record of 47.78 for silver, and three other men also set national records behind him. Clement has competed in all nine World Championships and Olympic Games since 2005, and this is his fourth global 400H medal.

Crouser leads qualifying in men’s shot put, Kovacs an auto Q

The very early morning qualifying session in the shot put saw Ryan Crouser (Boring, Oregon) blast a 21.59m/70-10 on his first attempt to automatically go through to tonight’s final. It was the best qualifying throw in Olympic history. World champion Joe Kovacs (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) had a subpar first round throw before hitting 20.73m/68-0.25 in round two to assure himself of a place in the final.

Darrell Hill (Darby, Pennsylvania) could only manage 19.56m/64-2.25 and did not advance.

Three Americans on to women’s HJ final for first time in 32 years

For the first time since 1984 the U.S. will have three women in the high jump final. American record holder Chaunte Lowe (Atlanta, Georgia) and Inika McPherson (Port Arthur, Texas) had no misses on the way to clearing the automatic standard of 1.94m/6-4.25 in women’s high jump qualifying. World Indoor champion Vashti Cunningham (Las Vegas) had a more difficult route to the final, making 1.94m on her final attempt.

U.S. Men run fastest time in 4x100m relay heats, women due for a solo re-run

Safe handoffs all the way around led to a quick victory for Team USA’s men in the first heat of the 4x100m relay. Mike Rodgers (Florissant, Missouri), Christian Coleman (Atlanta, Georgia), Tyson Gay (Lexington, Kentucky) and long jump fourth-placer Jarrion Lawson (Texarkana, Texas) got the stick around in 37.65, the fastest time overall.

A bizarre incident on the exchange between Allyson Felix (Los Angeles) and English Gardner (Voorhees Township, New Jersey) knocked the U.S. out of the women’s 4x100m. Running a very quick second leg after taking the stick from long jump champion Tianna Bartoletta (Elyria, Ohio), Felix came close to Gardner to make the second exchange. The outgoing Brazilian runner to Felix’s outside swung her left arm and hit Felix, throwing her off balance. Felix tried to pass the baton to Gardner, but could not complete the exchange. Then, after a few moments, Felix had the presence of mind to retrieve the baton and make the pass to Gardner in the exchange zone. Gardner handed of to Morolake Akinosun (Chicago, Illinois), who carried the baton across the finish line. Team USA was disqualified for a violation of Rule 170.6.a, but filed a protest claiming interference by the Brazilian team.

IAAF officials ordered a solo re-run by the U.S. at 7 p.m. local time, and if their time is quicker than the 42.70 by second time qualifiers China and Canada, they will advance to Friday’s final.

Eaton’s lead at 115 in decathlon with three events to go

There was no rest for the weary as the decathlon 110m hurdles went off at 9:30 am after a late finish Wednesday. Ashton Eaton (Bend, Oregon) dropped 29 points to Canada’s Damian Warner, running 13.80 behind Warner’s 13.58. Jeremy Taiwo (Renton, Washington) ran 14.57, while Zach Ziemek (Itasca, Illinois) clocked in at 14.77.

Eaton stepped it up in the discus, throwing a season best 45.49m/149-3 to pick 12 of those points back up from Warner and lead after seven events with 6,398. Ziemek had a brilliant final throw, setting a lifetime best 49.42m/162-2 to move into sixth overall with 6,006 points, but Taiwo was far off his best with a 39.31m/128-11 that dropped him into eighth with 5,984.

Decathlon Day 2 - Standings

U.S. athletes after 110H: 1. Eaton (5,621); 6. Taiwo (5,321); 11. Ziemek (5,148)

U.S. athletes after DT: 1. Eaton (6,398); 6. Ziemek (6,006); 8. Taiwo (5,984)

Follow along with all of the action from the Rio Olympic Games by following USATF on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #Rio2016. Fans can follow every second of the Rio Olympic Games on the NBC family of networks. All track & field action can be streamed live via the NBC Sports app and the broadcast schedule for tonight is as follows:

TEAM USA MEDAL TABLE

Gold (6)

Michelle Carter, Women’s SP, 20.63m/67-8.25 AR (8/12)

Jeffrey Henderson, Men’s LJ, 8.38m/27-6 (8/13)

Christian Taylor, Men’s TJ, 17.86m/58-7.25 (8/16)

Tianna Bartoletta, Women’s LJ, 7.17m/23-6.25 (8/17)

Brianna Rollins, Women’s 100m hurdles, 12.48 (8/17)

Kerron Clement, Men’s 400m hurdles, 47.73 (8/18)

Silver (7)

Tori Bowie, Women’s 100m, 10.83 (8/13)

Justin Gatlin, Men’s 100m, 9.89 (8/14)

Allyson Felix, Women’s 400m, 49.51 (8/15)

Will Claye, Men’s TJ, 17.76m/58-3.25 (8/16)

Evan Jager, Men’s 3000m Steeple, 8:04.28 (8/17)

Brittney Reese, Women’s LJ, 7.15m/23-5.5 (8/17)

Nia Ali, Women’s 100m hurdles, 12.59 (8/17)

Bronze (7)

LaShawn Merritt, Men’s 400m, 43.85 (8/14)

Emma Coburn, Women’s 3000m Steeple, 9:07.63 AR (8/15)

Clayton Murphy, Men’s 800m, 1:42.93 (8/15)

Sam Kendricks, Men’s PV, 5.85m/19-2.5 (8/15)

Jenny Simpson, Women’s 1500m, 4:10.53 (8/16)

Tori Bowie, Women’s 200m, 22.15 (8/17)

Kristi Castlin, Women’s 100m hurdles, 12.61 (8/17)