USA gets a second shot at men's 4x400m relay final after lane drama at World Athletics Championships 2025

The eighth day of the World Athletics Championships 2025 saw a controversial incident for the US 4x400m relay team during the heats. Initially, the US side featuring Christopher Bailey, Demarius Smith, Bryce Deadmon, and Jenoah McKiver finished sixth in the second heat of the race in 3:01.06.

Due to this disappointing finish, the US side, which was the 4x400m men's relay winner in 2023, couldn't qualify for the finals. However, following the race, the US team appealed to re-check for an obstruction in their path during the relay takeover. Courtesy of the appeal, the referees decided upon re-check that the Zambian athletes had obstructed both the US and the Kenyan teams during the relays, and therefore, Zambia was disqualified from the competition.

Following this, the referees issued a decision to conduct a re-run between the USA and the Kenyan teams, with the winner taking the final spot in the World Athletics Championships 2025 finals. The USATF shared a post on its X handle to inform about the re-run between Kenya and the USA for a spot in the men's 4x400m relay finals. The time of this re-run hasn't been decided yet, as per the post. The caption of the post stated:

"We have just been informed that there will be a RE-RUN for an additional lane in the Men’s 4x400m Relay Final as Zambia was Disqualified for impeding both #TeamUSATF and Kenya. The time of the re-run between USA 🇺🇸 and Kenya 🇰🇪 is still TBD, but we will announce it as soon as we’re made aware."

Notably, during the first men's 4x400m relay heat of the 2025 World Championships, Kenya had clocked a better run time of 3:00.76 as compared to the USA's 3:01.06.

How did other USA relay teams perform on the eighth day of the World Athletics Championships 2025?

The eighth day of the World Athletics Championships 2025 saw the US women's 4x400m relay team successfully qualify for the finals. The quartet of Alexis Holmes, Rosey Effiong, Quanera Hayes, and Britton Wilson won the second heat of the event and clocked a world-leading 3:22.53.

The men's 4x100m relay also saw the US side qualify through to the finals. Christian Coleman, Ronnie Baker, Trayvon Bromell, and T'Mars McCallum finished second and got the job done for the USA in the first heat of the event.

Sha'carri Richardson and Twanisha Terry led the US women's 4x100m team during the second heat held on the eighth day of the World Athletics Championships 2025. It saw the US side finish in the top position after clocking a world-leading 41.60 seconds to qualify for the finals.

Edited by Soumik Bhattacharya