Even down Noah Lyles, the United States looked primed to finally snap its Olympic medal drought in the men's 4x100m relay final on Friday.
But disaster struck early for Team USA at Stade de France.
American Christian Coleman collided with teammate Kenny Bednarek on the first exchange of the baton, causing the U.S. to fall behind the pack.
The bad exchange left the Americans with simply too much ground to make up, as the quartet of Coleman, Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley combined to cross the finish line seventh.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
Shortly after the race, the Americans were then disqualified for an illegal pass on the first exchange.
“It just didn’t happen,” Coleman said. “Maybe we could have put in some more work. I just think in the moment it didn’t happen.”
Canada won gold with a time of 37.50 seconds, with South Africa (37.57) and Great Britain (37.61) rounding out the Olympic podium.
Team USA was looking for its first medal in the event since a second-place finish at the 2004 Athens Games. The U.S. hasn't won gold since the 2000 Sydney Games.
“At the end of the day, we knew what we could do,” King said. “We came out here and we had the mindset of no risk, no reward, so we went out there and went big. It didn’t happen.”
Earlier Friday, the women's 4x100m relay team of Sha'Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha "Teetee" Terry sprinted to United States' first gold since 2016.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
