The rain didn’t stop the women on Team USA’s 4x100-meter relay team from winning gold—but the relay curse continues for the American men, who never recovered from a disastrous first pass and were eventually disqualified.
The same women’s team that won their heat in the preliminary round—100-meter bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry, 200-meter gold medalist Gabby Thomas, and 100-meter silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson—ran 41.78 seconds, beating out Great Britain, who took silver in 41.85 seconds. Germany won bronze with a time of 41.97 seconds.
The handoff between Terry and Thomas didn’t go perfectly smoothly, leaving the Americans a fraction of a second behind Team GB before the anchor leg. But Richardson covered her 100 meters in 10.09 seconds, powering past Daryll Neita to victory.
The men, meanwhile, were without 100-meter gold medalist Noah Lyles, who announced shortly after winning bronze in the 200 meters that he’d tested positive for COVID two days prior. So 200-meter silver medalist Kenny Bednarek hopped into the second leg and Fred Kerley anchored.
But the handoff between Christian Coleman and Bednarek took place outside the zone, disqualifying them from the competition—they’d finished seventh, in 37.89 seconds. Canada won gold in 37.50 seconds, South Africa took silver in 37.57 seconds, and Great Britain earned bronze with a time of 37.61 seconds.
The flop continues a two-decade losing streak for Team USA men, who despite their individual success at the sprints, haven’t reached the podium in this event since 2004 and last won gold in 2000.
“We wanted to bring it home. We knew we had the speed to do it,” said Coleman. “It simply just didn't happen. But we are human beings, too, and we've been through ups and downs in life. This is just another one of those times where we just gotta keep our head down and just keep pushing. I mean, it's a part of the sport, you know, you come into it knowing that this is a risk reward type of thing and it's just something that just happens, and we're doing it on the biggest stage.”
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
