‘Blow it up’: America’s curse is starting to get cruel

You can pinpoint the exact moment America’s sprint curse struck again as the best sprinters on Earth choked spectacularly.

Chokers. Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

America’s sprint relay curse will extend to 28-years by the time the Los Angeles Olympics rolls around in 2028 - after a horror morning for the men’s team.

The United States butchered two baton-changes before being disqualified as Canada stormed to the gold medal at the Stade de France on Saturday morning.

Andre de Grasse and Jerome Blake both ran their legs under 8.90 seconds as Canada edged out South Africa by just 0.07 seconds with their time of 37.50 seconds. Britain took the Bronze.

More significantly, the United States choked again — and American track icon Carl Lewis was not happy.

“It is time to blow up the system. This continues to be completely unacceptable,” he posted on Twitter.

He went on to point the finger of blame at the United States Track and Field governing body.

“It is clear that EVERYONE at @usatf is more concerned with relationships than winning,” he wrote.

“No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”

Missing Covid-hit 100m champion Noah Lyles, the quartet of Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley blew it.

Coleman ran a scorching opening leg that put America in front, but his handover was a disaster with the Bednarek forced to put the breaks on at the end of the change-over area after leaving too early.

On review, it was found the baton change took place outside the mark - and they were disqualified.

Where it all went wrong for the Americans. Bednarek leaves his mark way too early for Coleman to complete the handover cleanly.

“We’re all human beings too and we’ve been through ups and downs in life, this is another of those times,” Coleman said.

“This is a part of the sport. This is a risk-reward type of thing. We do it on the biggest stage.”

It continues the sprint powerhouse’s dismal Olympic run.

The last time the US men medalled was with a silver at the 2004 Athens Games.

There was a botched hand-off in the heats of the 2021 Tokyo Games, while the US were disqualified at the 2016 Rio Games and failed to medal in London in 2012 whilst also coming a cropper in the semi-finals in Beijing in 2008.

America was only just in the frame. Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images.

Kenneth Bednarek, Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley and Kyree King of Team United States aren’t happy. Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images.

This one still hurts. A lot.

“It just didn’t happen,” said Coleman.

“Maybe we could have put in some more work, it just didn’t happen.

“We practised a lot. Me and Kenny have been awesome teammates a few times over the years. We felt really confident. It just didn’t happen.

“We’re our own biggest critic. We’re disappointed because we know we had the speed to do it. It’s part of the sport that you come into it with the risk reward.”

Bednarek added: “At the end of the day we knew what we could do, we came out here with a mindset of no risk, no reward. It didn’t happen, it is what it is.” Kerley, who won 100m bronze in Paris, said a downpour had not affected the relay.

Kenneth Bednarek is the scapegoat. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.

“We train in rain, the weather doesn’t affect anything,” he said. “We’re here to perform. We didn’t get the job time. We’re not disappointed, we’ve just got to learn from this and keep going.”

As pointed out by high performance athletic coach Steve Magness on Twitter, the problem is much bigger than Bednarek’s blunder of leaving early.

“Those were the worst hand-offs I’ve ever seen,” thre athletics commentator said.

“Canada wins gold. USA men blow it. Bednarek took off WAY too early. They were doomed. We suck at the 4x100.”

He compared the American sprint team’s relay mental demons to the England men’s football team after years of having an international reputation of penalty shoot-out chokers.

“What a disaster. Research from soccer penalty shootouts tell us: When a country historically struggles, it puts new generations in a stress/avoidance state, & they choke. We need to pull from what (former Enfland manager Gareth) Southgate did with England penalties.

He said: “It’s in their heads. You need to change the approach to get it out.”

There are no mental demons with the

Defending champions Italy, featuring 2021 100m champion Marcell Jacobs on the second leg, finished fourth in 37.68sec.

— with AFP