Canadians advance, U.S. DQ'd in sprint relay
Last Updated: Friday, August 21, 2009 | 7:21 PM ET
CBC Sports
American Darvis Patton, left, Britain's Aikines-Aryeetey battle it out on the anchor leg of their 4x100 heat. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)The Canadian men's 4x100-metre relay team advanced to the final at the world championships in Berlin, while the mighty U.S. squad was disqualified for an illegal exchange.
Canada's Hank Palmer, Oluseyi Smith, Jared Connaughton and Bryan Barnett finished third in their heat Friday with a season-best time of 38.60 seconds on a wet track at Olympic Stadium, then waited anxiously before learning they'd earned a wild-card spot for the final.
The top two finishers in each of the three heats, plus the next two fastest times, advanced to Saturday's medal race.
The Canadians felt there's room for improvement, citing a conservative last exchange between Connaughton and anchor Barnett.
"We have run 38.60 several times," said Connaughton, a P.E.I. native. "We could have run faster and I know we can run faster [Saturday]."
The defending champion Americans won Canada's heat in 37.97 seconds, the top time of the day. But they were later disqualified after Great Britain, which finished second in the group, complained the U.S. executed a changeover outside the designated area.
The U.S. subsequently launched an appeal, citing inconclusive video footage, but it was rejected.
The American relay team took a cautious approach, making slow and safe exchanges. The final pass between Shawn Crawford and Darvis Patton, however, was outside the zone. Patton was also part of the botched exchange in Beijing, along with Tyson Gay, who didn't run Friday due to a groin injury.
"Our men's 4x100 relay had great preparation for this meet," Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, USA Track & Field chief of sport performance, said in a statement. "To be disqualified is something that is hard for all of us to accept, but at this point we can only use it as inspiration for our remaining three relays, and as a lesson for future championships."
The U.S. owns seven of the last 11 world titles.
Great Britain and Japan also advanced to the final, while Brazil is expected to round out the field after the U.S. lost its appeal.
Trinidad and Tobago and Italy won the other two heats.
Olympic champion Jamaica moved on to the final by finishing second to the Italians without the services of Asafa Powell or Usain Bolt.
Bolt was resting up after setting individual world records in the 100 and 200 finals, and plans to race in the relay final. Powell's status is up in the air due to an unknown injury.
