PARIS — Canada won the men’s Olympic 4x100m relay on Friday after the favored foursome from the United States messed up a changeover and were disqualified.
Andre de Grasse ran a superb last leg to bring the Tokyo silver medalists home in 37.50 seconds for their second gold in the event following their 1996 win.
Akani Simbine ran a terrific last leg to get South Africa silver in an African record 37.57. Zharnel Hughes finished it for Britain, earning bronze in 37.61.
Hughes was in the team that finished second in Tokyo but was later stripped of the medal due to a doping offense by teammate CJ Ujah.
The U.S. failure was the latest in a long series as they have not won the event they once dominated since 2000.
Christian Coleman gave them a great start but ended up virtually colliding with Kenny Bednarek at the first handover. They recovered to finish well but were disqualified as the exchange was illegal.
Since 1995, in the Olympics and World Championships, the U.S. have now had 11 dropped batons, disqualifications or bans.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
