American sprinter Christian Coleman was involved in a mishandled baton pass that led to the disqualification of the US team during the men's 4x100 relay event on Friday. The incident occurred when Coleman failed to cleanly hand off the baton to his teammate Kenny Bednarek. As Bednarek began his leg of the relay, Coleman was still far from the exchange zone in their designated lane.
Despite Coleman's strong performance during his leg of the relay, Bednarek initiated his run prematurely, resulting in a botched handoff that left the team with little chance of completing the exchange smoothly. Reflecting on the disqualification, Coleman expressed his disappointment, emphasizing the team's desire to secure a victory for America. He acknowledged the team's capabilities, stating, 'We knew we had the speed to do it... but we are human beings, too. We've been through ups and downs in life. This is just another one of those times where we just got to keep our head down and keep pushing.'