Tragedy has struck again! After multiple failed attempts, the baton handover fiasco seems to follow the US track and field team like its shadow. In a major mistake, Team USA once again botched a seemingly simple move- to properly hand over the baton as the next in line was about to take off! Competing in the 2025 World Relays, Team USA came in as the favorite to win the title. Unfortunately, during the heats of the 4x100m, the worst happened. 

In a quick exchange, one of the female athletes came in, speeding ahead with the baton in her hand. However, as she attempted to hand it over, things went south real fast. Trying to pick up speed, her male teammate grabbed the baton as fast as he could, but in a frantic moment of tension and panic, dropped it! Just like that, the US Mixed Relays Team was handed one of the worst heartbreaks imaginable. Yet, although this on-track fumble seems too sad to be true, it’s not the first time the USA Relay Team has experienced such a tragic outcome.

For a nation built on sprinting dominance, the United States men’s 4x100m relay team has become a cautionary tale. Not for lack of speed. America still churns out world leaders in the 100 meters like an assembly line. But for its shocking inability to complete the simplest, most crucial task in a relay: pass the baton. Once the undisputed kings of the event, Team USA has now turned Olympic sprint relays into high-stakes disaster theatre. At the Paris Olympics last year, the curse struck again. Harder and more humiliating than ever.

The Paris Games offered a golden opportunity. Another lineup stacked with individual brilliance: Christian Coleman, the explosive starter; Kenny Bednarek, an Olympic silver medalist; Kyree King, a reliable leg; and Fred Kerley, one of the fastest men in history. But when the gun went off, it wasn’t just medals at stake. It was the credibility of a nation that once owned this event. And by the second exchange, disaster was already in motion. Coleman’s pass to Bednarek was not only poorly timed, but it was also illegal. Bednarek nearly came to a full stop to salvage the baton, and by the time he was moving again, the Americans were already out of medal contention. Moments later, the disqualification came through: the pass had happened outside the legal zone. Game over.

This was no one-off blunder; it’s a decades-long pattern of technical breakdowns that haunt the U.S. relay program. In Tokyo, a lineup featuring Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker, Cravon Gillespie, and world leader Trayvon Bromell failed to reach the final, finishing sixth in a messy semifinal riddled with poor exchanges. Before that? A long list of disqualifications, dropped batons, and blown zones amounting to 11 major relay collapses since 1995.

The team hasn’t claimed gold in this event since the 2000 Sydney Games and has won no medal whatsoever since the silver at Athens in 2004. For a program that once dominated with 15 Olympic titles, more than every other country combined, these repeated implosions are nothing short of shocking. It’s no longer just about technique. It’s about a deep, systemic failure to get the handoff right- again and again and again. And quite rightly frustrated by the same, track legend Carl Lewis went off on the team after their Paris debacle.

Carl Lewis erupts after U.S. relay flop: blow up the system

Carl Lewis didn’t mince words. Moments after the U.S. men’s 4×100 relay team suffered the Olympic meltdown in Paris, the nine-time Olympic gold medalist took to social media with fury. And he unapologetically demanded a radical change. Lewis posted on X in response to the botched baton handoff that led to the Americans’ disqualification. He wrote, “It is time to blow up the system.” Lewis further vented his disappointment, saying, “This continues to be completely unacceptable. It is clear that EVERYONE at @usatf is more concerned with relationships than winning.”

The exchange between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek, which occurred outside the legal handoff zone, marked yet another painful chapter in Team USA’s long relay saga. But for Lewis, the failure wasn’t about athletes. He placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the governing body. He clearly stated, “No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”

Just a day earlier, Lewis had issued a warning. He said, “If something happens and they do not sweep. ONLY talk to the coaches. Yes, I said it!!!” After yet another flameout on the Olympic stage, Lewis’ anger turned into a call for accountability. According to the Olympian, the system in its entirety is broken beyond repair. The latest upset at the World Relays does nothing to salvage this rapidly worsening reputation. Is there a redemption around the corner? That is for us to see!