Christian Taylor (U.S.A.) and Will Claye (U.S.A.) had a phenomenal afternoon, capturing the gold and silver medals, respectively, for Team USA in the men’s triple jump on Thursday at Olympic Stadium. Taylor’s gold medal is the first individual gold medal in the history of Florida track & field on the men’s or women’s side, and Taylor and Claye earned the second and third field medals in the history of the program. Along with these two Gators, Tony McQuay (U.S.A.) competed in the preliminaries of the men’s 4x400-meter relay for Team USA.

In the men’s triple jump, Claye was the early leader after foot-fouling his first attempt by the smallest of margins, and responding in the second round with a mark of 17.54m/57-6.5 (0.0) to put him into first. Taylor struggled early on as he fouled his first two jumps before putting in a “safety jump” of 17.15m/56-3.25 (-0.1) on his third attempt to earn three more chances. In the fourth round, Taylor launched a huge jump of 17.81m/58-5.25 (+0.6), a season’s best, to catapult him into the top spot, and Claye improved his best to 17.62m/57-9.75 (+0.6) to solidify his status in second place.

“There is just so much going on right now, but I am so blessed to share this moment with my family, my grandparents and so many people in the crowd right now,” Taylor said. “My coach and I have just worked tremendously hard, and to see this all come together at this time is a blessing.”

Taylor’s gold medal is the first for the U.S. since Kenny Harrison in 1996. This is the first time since 1992 (gold: Mike Conley, silver: Charles Simpkins) that Team USA has finished 1-2 in the men’s triple jump. Claye, who earned a bronze medal in the men’s long jump earlier in the London Games, is the first American man since 1904 to medal in both jumps at the same Olympics, and Thursday marks the first time since 1936 that any man has medaled in both.

“It is awesome,” Claye said. “Christian and I have been going 1-2 for a long time. We have a brotherhood, and jumping against your brother, you go harder than you do with anyone else. It feels like it is just me and Christian out there sometimes, you know. It is an awesome rivalry, and we definitely push each other and help each other.”

Starting off the action on Thursday for the Gators was McQuay, running the third leg of the U.S. men’s 4x400-meter relay. The U.S. finished second in their heat and second overall in a season’s best 2:58.87, despite opening leg Manteo Mitchell breaking his fibula just 200 meters into the race. McQuay ran the fastest split of all competitors in the preliminary round with his time of 43.65. That tops his fastest split of 44.01 from the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June. The finals of the men’s 4x400-meter relay are on Friday at 4:20 p.m. ET and the lineup will be announced on Friday morning.

“I felt like I did a pretty good job,” McQuay said. “I just kept it close for my boy, Bryshon. I think I did a good job coming home strong and kept it close. Overall I’m proud with the team. Our goal was to qualify, so that mission is complete and we are going into the finals with a great lane.”

Friday is a relay day for the Gators, as Novlene Williams-Mills (Jamaica) competes in the first round of the women’s 4x400-meter relay. Her race begins at 2:10 p.m. ET. Jeff Demps (U.S.A.) has gone from understudy to center stage, as he will run the opening leg of the U.S. men’s 4x100-meter relay on Friday, beginning at 2:45 p.m. ET. McQuay will likely run in the finals of the men’s 4x400-meter relay, beginning at 4:20 p.m. Kerron Clement (U.S.A.) is in the relay pool for that event as well and could possibly see action with Mitchell’s absence.

To keep up with all the Gators at the Olympics, make sure to follow @OlympicGators on Twitter. For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team’s Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField. You can also find the Gators on Facebook.