There can be only one team that is capable of beating the United States in the men’s sprint relay, and that’s the US team itself.
That was certainly the evidence of tonight’s semi-finals, where a US quartet including just two of their medallists from the individual sprints - Shawn Crawford, the 200m champion, and 100m bronze medal-winner Maurice Greene - comfortably won their heat in 38.02, half a second clear of runners-up Great Britain.
With the US - whose foursome also included Darvis Patton and Coby Miller - Britain (38.53), Brazil (38.64) , Jamaica and France all in the same, second semi-final, this was as loaded as it got, and with only three going through into tomorrow’s final automatically, it meant two of the fancied squads were eliminated.
Nigeria had won the first semi-final in 38.27, with Poland (38.47) and Australia (38.49) chasing them home, and the two fastest losers came in behind them in a blanket finish - both Japan and Trinidad clocked 38.53, equalling the national record in the latter case.
SD
