Jamaican men fail to make Olympic 4x100 relay final after awful baton exchanges

There will be no Kishane Thompson vs. Noah Lyles rematch in the 4x100m relay.

For the first time in 20 years, Jamaica’s men will not be a part of the 4x100 meters relay final at the Olympic Games.

In Thursday’s qualifying heats, Jamaica could only muster a fourth-place finish behind Canada, France, and China. Only the top three from the two heats automatically qualify, with the next two fastest times from either heat rounding out the eight-team final. Unfortunately for Jamaica, who had the benefit of knowing how fast the first heat was, missed out at 38.45 seconds, which was slower than all but one team from Heat 1.

The quartet of Ackeem Blake, Jelani Walker, Jehlani Gordon, and 100-meter silver medalist Kishane Thompson were expected to reach the final and add another chapter to the Jamaica vs. United State rivalry, but poor baton exchanges from Walker to Gordon and especially Gordon to Thompson doomed their chances of advancing. Gordon did not run a good turn and his handoff to Thompson nearly occurred beyond the exchange zone (outlined by the yellow marker on the track), which would’ve been a disqualification. By the time Thompson had the baton, he was left with too much to do.

This shock result means there will be no rematch between Thompson and Noah Lyles on the anchor leg in Friday’s final. The United States won their heat in 37.47 seconds without Lyles or Kenny Bednarek, who are in Thursday night’s 200-meter final. The Americans will be the overwhelming favorites to win their first Olympic 4x100m relay gold since 2000.

Bad relay exchanges have typically been the domain of the American men, who dropped the baton in the 2008 Olympics, were disqualified in Rio 2016 for an illegal exchange on the anchor leg, didn’t advance out of the heats in Tokyo 2020 due to poor exchanges, and have had five other DNFs or baton-related DQs in World Championships dating back to 1995.

During the height of Usain Bolt’s career, Jamaica were literally unbeatable in the relay, winning three Olympic golds (one of which was annulled after Nesta Carter’s positive drug test) and four consecutive world titles from 2008-2016. Since 2017, which saw Bolt’s career end lying on the track injured, Jamaica have only won two World Championship bronze medals but nothing more.

The good news for Jamaica is that their women did make the final despite the absences of Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shericka Jackson, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, all of whom won’t be taking part due to their respective injuries.