Paris 2024 seemed to have been the venue that could finally rescue the United State of America from the cliché of handoff issues at the Olympic Games in the men’s 4x100m relay.
But, the baton hoodoo struck its ungly head against the US again in the men’s 4x100m relay final at Stade de France this evening as the handoff between Christian Coleman and Kenneth Bednarek didn’t go well.
The former 60m world champion [Coleman] blasted from the blocks with blazing speed having negotiated the first bend easily to beat his closest man ahead, but couldn’t handoff the baton well to Bednarek on the back straight having passed the baton outside of the handoff zone.
The team — Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley lost the spark to continue eventhough they crossed the finished line in seventh place, they were later disqualified for their error.
“Obviously we all are going to be hard on ourselves. And track and field is an individual sport so we do our own thing in sprinting. So when we come together as a team, that’s the fun part of it. Obviously, it’s a little disappointing, especially for America, because we wanted to do it, we wanted to bring it home, we knew we had the speed to do it,” Coleman told reporters after the race.
“It just didn’t happen, but we’re human beings too. We’ve been through ups and downs in life. This is another one of those times where we’ve got to just keep our heads down and keep pushing,” he added.
Despite the disappointment Coleman believes the team can bounce back in the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028:
“All of us are world class, and I expect all of us will be back on the team in LA,” Coleman said.
“I think on home soil, we’ll be able to have the confidence to bring it on home.”
Canada finished first in 37.50 seconds, as South Africa [37.57] and Great Britain [37.61] came second, and third respectively.
By James K. Attaglo Wilson
