We asked Demarius Smith, who was in the middle of the delayed second exchange Friday night and had the slowest split today, if he was beinng personally coached by US relay coach Darryl Woodson. Smith: "There's no proof of that. That's first. Second of all, it doesn't matter...Keep doubting me. I'll be back."
A lot of people saying that the USA guys ran terrible. However, had they not been impeded, they run the last few legs differently. They flat out knew they had to finish at a minimum of 4th place, but found themselves in last. So, they burn up the first 150m of the last few legs trying to make up lost ground only to lose more time in the the last 250m. They didn't run like a--. They just weren't patient enough to each run a smart leg making up a little ground at a time instead of trying to get it all back on each leg. Poor coaching is what we saw. (Typical)
Please explain why Kenya and USA do not have to run faster than Japans 2:59.74 to be added to the final, when S. Africa has to beat a certain time to be added to the 4x1 final.
Please explain why Kenya and USA do not have to run faster than Japans 2:59.74 to be added to the final, when S. Africa has to beat a certain time to be added to the 4x1 final.
Because you can have a run off between 2 teams not 1. That’s the reason. Not saying I agree with it
There were seven protests in the men's 4x400 semis.
The meet referee determined Zambia, which passed outside the zone, affected both Team USA and Kenya. So they have decided to do a runoff, likely on Sunday morning Tokyo time, between the USA and Kenya. The winner will go to the final (all eight previously qualified teams will also make it).
Teams will have to use the same legs in the same order. USATF communications has said they even have to run in the same lanes as the semi.
There were seven protests in the men's 4x400 semis.
The meet referee determined Zambia, which passed outside the zone, affected both Team USA and Kenya. So they have decided to do a runoff, likely on Sunday morning Tokyo time, between the USA and Kenya. The winner will go to the final (all eight previously qualified teams will also make it).
Teams will have to use the same legs in the same order. USATF communications has said they even have to run in the same lanes as the semi.
It’s been added to the Tokyo morning session schedule. It will be run at 9:40 pm Eastern tonight.
Note: the updated Tokyo morning session schedule also includes the men’s 4x100 starting at 9:33 pm Eastern. The only team listed for that race is South Africa.
Here's how the two teams stack up based on their individual season bests this year:
Team USA
Chris Bailey, 44.15
Demarius Smith, 44.45
Bryce Deadmon, 44.30
Jenoah McKiver, 44.92
Total: 2:57.82
Team Kenya
George Mutinda, 44.51
David Sanayek Kapirante, 45.39
Dennis Maskika Mulongo, 45.41
Kevin Kipkorir, 44.80
Total: 3:00.11
Team USA has the fastest three men this year.
What does this mean, given that they are not running at their PB times listed here?
If the US gets the spot, who will we run? Norwood? Patterson? Bailey?
Please note those are 2025 Season Best times, not PB times. I listed them just to give people an idea of how these teams match up on paper, in case anyone else was wondering like I was.
I don't know how many guys are allowed to be switched for the final, but if there's no limit, then I would go with the top 3 individual 400m runners from these championships, plus Rai. In some order, that would be:
A fair and sensible solution. The decisions at this meet are much more reasonable than in Eugene, where they were sticklers for disqualifying sprinters based on faulty start-timing mechanisms! Rio also had some very bad calls.
Here is what Jonathan wrote about the situation in our recap of Saturday's action:
The first heat of the men’s 4×400 was a mess, and the US will get a second chance to avoid disaster with a runoff on Sunday morning (Saturday night in the US)
Until this year, the US men had qualified for every 4×400 final ever contested at the World Championships. But as of now (late Saturday night in Tokyo), the US has not qualified for the 2025 Worlds final – though they will get the chance to change that on Sunday morning. Here’s what happened: Zambia’s Kennedy Luchembe and the USA’s Demarius Smith were running next to each other in second and third entering the second exchange, Luchembe on the inside and Smith on the outside. The problem was, Zambia’s third leg was lined up on the outside and the USA’s third leg was lined up inside. Someone was going to have to cut off someone else to make the exchange, and Luchembe, who was slightly ahead of Smith, ended up cutting across to complete the handoff. That not only blocked the US from completing its handoff but forced third leg Bryce Deadmon to start running from a complete stop, which left the US in dead last. US anchor Jenoah McKiver made a big push to get back and was 4th on the final turn (top three advanced automatically) but faded in the home straight and the US missed out.
Officials reviewed the video and disqualified Zambia for starting their exchange outside the exchange zone, and because the USA and Kenya were both affected (the third exchange was almost a carbon copy of the second exchange, with Kenya switching places with the US), the USA and Kenya will compete in a race-off on Sunday morning (9:40 p.m. ET Saturday) with the winner earning a spot in the final. The runoff will feature the same runners in the same order as Saturday’s prelim.
So the US has a second chance to extend its streak of finals – but will still be underdogs to Botswana for gold even if they make it through.
You can watch a replay of the semifinal online:
We have two thoughts on this situation:
1) Zambia looks to have been screwed over by the officials
It is the officials’ responsibility to line up the outgoing runners, and the order is meant to be determined by the running order with 200m to go in the leg. With 200m to go in the second leg, Zambia was clearly ahead of the US, which means the Zambian third leg should have been lined up inside the American third leg. Instead, the American was lined up inside the Zambian.
That left Zambia and the US in an impossible position. Neither team wanted to slow down, yet whoever crossed over to hand off would cut off the other team. And because Zambia was slightly ahead, their second leg crossed over and cut off the US. But what else was he supposed to do? Unless the Zambian third leg took it upon himself to move outside of the American third leg before the handoff – which he would have no reason to do – the chaos on the second exchange appears to have been caused by official error. In which case, Zambia deserves a spot in the runoff on Sunday as well.
2) The US could have avoided this situation by running a stronger team and there are serious questions to be asked about the composition of the US relay squad
The US did not run its strongest team in the 4×400 prelims. That is not unusual given the US is often deep enough to rest top athletes and still advance to the final. But this year, the US was not as deep as usual – only one American made the 400 final. Of the US’s top five 400m runners – Rai Benjamin plus the four guys who ran the individual 400 in Tokyo (Jacory Patterson, Chris Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Khaleb McRae), only Bailey ran in the prelims. Jenoah McKiver, Bryce Deadmon, and Demarius Smith comprised the other three legs.
This was a huge risk by new USATF relays coach Darryl Woodson and looks even worse given how the race played out. McKiver’s inclusion is not egregious as he split 43.91 in the mixed 4×400 final and would have been fresh after not running the individual 400. Deadmon’s is more questionable as he split 45.07 and 44.98 in the mixed 4×400 prelims and final, while McRae has run under 45 in each of his last nine 400s (though his most recent race, the Worlds semi on Tuesday, was his slowest in that stretch at 44.82).
The most egregious decision was running Smith on second leg. Smith was only 7th at USAs and has broken 45 seconds in the 400 once in his entire life. Meanwhile the US had Vernon Norwood, who has broken 45.00 eleven times in 2025 and had not raced since Tuesday. Norwood was 4th at USAs, 3rd at the Diamond League final, and is a relay vet who saved the Americans’ bacon in the Olympic prelims last year after Quincy Wilson’s poor leg.
Unless Norwood is carrying an injury – and USATF comms told us he was healthy since he was listed as the alternate for the prelims – there is no way Smith should have been running this race over him. Especially because the US rested one of its top legs in the prelims of the World Relays in May and missed out on the final because of it.
It’s hard to get an exact split for Smith. World Athletics’ results page lists it as 48.17, but that also includes the mishap with the exchange. But Smith got the baton first and reached the handoff zone in 4th. No way that happens with Norwood on the leg.
So why did Smith run on Saturday? Well, multiple sources have told LetsRun that Smith is coached by Woodson. Smith claimed at USAs that he is coached by Edward O’Neal of Southwestern University, but there is a video from last month of Woodson overseeing one of Smith’s workouts. If the relays coach is also the personal coach of athletes on the team, that is a conflict of interest. And if it contributed to Smith running over Norwood on Saturday, that’s a big problem.
Great info, Rojo! That coach situation takes me back to my soccer days, when a college coach who headed the U20 national program used that position as a recruiting tool. Inside access, you might say.