Canada earns shocking 4x100m relay gold, U.S. disqualified

Andre De Grasse anchored the Canadian men to a gold medal in the 4x100m relay Friday, upsetting the Americans in Paris and helping his country win the event for the first time since 1996.

The Americans were disqualified postrace after Kenneth Bednarek and Christian Coleman had a bad handoff at the first exchange and stepped outside the legal zone.

The Canadian team, consisting of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney, and De Grasse, grabbed the last spot in qualification and were situated in lane nine. De Grasse made up ground in the final leg and held off the South Africans to win gold and set a season's best time.

South Africa took home the silver, with Great Britain earning bronze. The Canadian team was unchanged from the one that won silver in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. De Grasse, Rodney, and Brown also won bronze in the event at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

The win was redemption for De Grasse after the Canadian flag bearer didn't qualify for the 100m and 200m finals. It was the first time in De Grasse's Olympic career that he didn't medal in an event he competed in.

De Grasse is now tied with swimmer Penny Oleksiak as the most decorated Canadian Olympian, with seven medals across three Games.