By: Emily Wang

The difference in finishing times between the 400-meter relay races for men and women was staggering. It was a major blow to the nation’s pride.

The U.S. team for the men’s relay consisted of Christian Coleman, Noah Lyles, Elijah Hall, and Marvin Bercy. The team was going strong until Hall failed to pass the baton smoothly to Bracy and tripped. The team ended up in second, with Canada in first place.

“It’s bittersweet,” Bracy said. “When you sweep the 100 and the 200, you expect to come out here and perform better.”

This year, they ran without the 100-meter world champion Fred Kerley, who was injured in the 200-meter preliminary heats. But they still had 4 out of 10 of the fastest men in the world, so they expected to win.

Compared to the women, the men’s team was a complete disappointment. The women’s team finished with the third fastest time ever recorded. Jamaica, who had originally swept the women’s 100-meter and won Olympic gold last summer, had expected to win. So naturally, the crowd went wild when the United States came in first.

But the U.S. men had not won a single relay race since 2000 due to errors and multiple disqualifications. The relay team also experienced one of its most embarrassing moments last summer. They did not even make it past the preliminary heats. Their handoffs were flawless, but the runners could not keep up a quick pace. Between 2007 and 2019, the U.S. was disqualified twice, and they didn’t make it to the finish line in 2011 when a U.S. runner collided with Britain’s anchor leg.

The poor outcomes of those races led many critics to comment on their performance in the races.

“The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay,” Carl Lewis, one of the United States best track and field athletes, tweeted after the Olympic race.