This week at the Track and Field World Championship, the USA men’s team won second place in the 4×100 relay race handoff exchange. They were able to finish in 37.55 seconds, but Canada squeaked by them with a finish of 37.48 seconds.
How did this happen? Well, if you don’t know what handoff exchange relay races are, then let me explain. In handoff exchange relay races, one racer starts off with a baton, runs to the next racer as fast as he can, and passes the baton to the racer he just ran to. The cycle then continues until the last person gets the baton and they run across the finish line. If somebody drops the baton or misses when they are grabbing it, that will add on more time to their total and slow them down, which is exactly what happened to the USA men.
On the last baton exchange, Elijah Hall lost balance and even dropped the baton he was supposed to hand to Bracy, which cost the team a lot of time. This made Marvin Bracy have to pick the baton up, which wasted even more time. Therefore, America once again didn’t receive the gold medal.
This was especially disappointing because just a few minutes before, the women’s team snatched first place without any hiccups, even setting a record time during the process. This left many viewers and fans of the USA Men feeling unimpressed and dismayed.
To make things worse, USA Men haven’t won a single gold since 2000, which meant a LOT of criticism of the coaches, trainers, and the players. A former American sprinting Athlete Carl Lewis tweeted, “The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay.”
For now, the USA team is still facing a lot of criticism, hate, and backlash for not winning last year’s gold medal. However, this means the players and coaches will train extra hard and tough next year so they can finally win some of that long-lost honor and glory back.
How did this happen? Well, if you don’t know what handoff exchange relay races are, then let me explain. In handoff exchange relay races, one racer starts off with a baton, runs to the next racer as fast as he can, and passes the baton to the racer he just ran to. The cycle then continues until the last person gets the baton and they run across the finish line. If somebody drops the baton or misses when they are grabbing it, that will add on more time to their total and slow them down, which is exactly what happened to the USA men.
On the last baton exchange, Elijah Hall lost balance and even dropped the baton he was supposed to hand to Bracy, which cost the team a lot of time. This made Marvin Bracy have to pick the baton up, which wasted even more time. Therefore, America once again didn’t receive the gold medal.
This was especially disappointing because just a few minutes before, the women’s team snatched first place without any hiccups, even setting a record time during the process. This left many viewers and fans of the USA Men feeling unimpressed and dismayed.
To make things worse, USA Men haven’t won a single gold since 2000, which meant a LOT of criticism of the coaches, trainers, and the players. A former American sprinting Athlete Carl Lewis tweeted, “The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay.”
For now, the USA team is still facing a lot of criticism, hate, and backlash for not winning last year’s gold medal. However, this means the players and coaches will train extra hard and tough next year so they can finally win some of that long-lost honor and glory back.