Athletics | Gold for Canadians in 4 x 100 m relay

(Saint-Denis) Canada caused quite a surprise by winning the Olympic 4 x 100 meter relay final on Friday.

Andre De Grasse ran a magical final relay to help Canada achieve a feat unseen since the 1996 Atlanta Games. His 8.89-second leg allowed the country to cross the finish line in 37.50 – its best time this season – and edge out South Africa and Great Britain.

De Grasse, Jerome Blake, Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney set off from lane 9, untouched by the rain that was falling heavily on the Stade de France track. De Grasse quickly realized that there was no one in front of him on his left as he set off. He finished ahead of South Africa’s Akani Simbine and Great Britain’s Zharnel Hugues by seven and 11 hundredths respectively.

Italy, Japan, France and China followed in order. The United States was disqualified after a bad handover.

This is Canada’s first medal on the athletics track at these Olympic Games.

This race caps some eight years of steady progress for this quartet, which won silver at the 2021 Tokyo Games. In 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Akeem Haynes was running in Rodney’s place. The group climbed to the third step of the podium.

“It’s a pretty incredible feeling,” De Grasse said. “To be on this track with these guys, my brothers, with whom I’ve been racing for so long, it’s indescribable.”

“It was just like in Eugene [aux Mondiaux 2022, où le même quatuor a gagné l’or]”We stuck together, watched videos and just kept believing in ourselves,” Brown said. “All we needed was a lane in the final. Together, we can make magic happen.”

With this medal, De Grasse now joins swimmer Penny Oleksiak as the most decorated Canadian athlete at the Olympics with seven medals, two gold, two silver and three bronze.

It also allowed De Grasse to put a balm on these Games, after missing the final of the 200m, which he won in Tokyo, and the 100m, he who had never missed an Olympic podium until then,

De Grasse also passed Carl Lewis for second all-time Olympic medals in sprints and relays, just one medal shy of the mark held by legendary Usain Bolt.

This is the sixth consecutive Games that Canada has appeared in the final. They finished fifth in Beijing in 2008 before being disqualified in London four years later. Jared Connaughton touched the inside line of his lane, forcing the team out of the game and depriving them of a bronze medal.

The ladies sixth

The women’s relay also made the final, a first for the country since 2016. Audrey Leduc, Marie-Éloïse Leclair, Jacqueline Madogo and Sade McCreath crossed the finish line in seventh place after a time of 42.69 seconds, but Switzerland’s disqualification for passing the baton outside the zone gave the Canadians sixth place.

Last to take the baton again, Leduc once again gave a great performance, running the third fastest time of the last heat in 10.27. She had run 10.04 in Thursday’s semi-final.

“When I got to the track, it was soaking wet. I wiped my hand to make sure it wouldn’t slip when I got the baton,” Leduc said. “When I saw [Leclair] arrive, I took off. We were further into the zone, but I had confidence.

The team had a bit of a scare during the first handover, between McCreath and Madogo, but without any damage.

“I had a little moment of panic during the exchange,” Madogo admitted. “But when I was able to get my hands on the witness, I just ran as fast as I could.”

Leclair then had to negotiate the curve in the rain.

“I just wanted to get to Audrey as quickly as possible and hand over the baton to her smoothly. Our brand was further away [vendredi]. We wanted to pass the baton further into the zone, in order to ensure an optimal sprint. […] I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished. This is the second time we’ve run all four together.”

Americans Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry, Gabrielle Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson won gold in 41.78. They finished ahead of the British (41.85) and the Germans (41.97). The Americans and Germans achieved their best performances of the season.

This women’s relay team could provide the country with many great years on the international scene. Ninth in the last World Relay Championships in the Bahamas, the group, which has only been training together for a year, has demonstrated its full potential in recent days on the lavender track at the Stade de France.

“This is not the last [finale] for us, said Ottawan Madogo. This is the first time we’ve made the final since 2016; it’s already a big improvement over the last few years. Last year, we weren’t at the World Championships and it’s a disappointment that was felt by each of us. Qualifying for the Olympics and making the final is really a big step forward for the program.”

Canada has not won a medal in the women’s 4x100m since winning silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. If we look at a non-boycotted Olympics, we have to go back to London 1948, where the Canadians won bronze.