Tokyo Olympics: Su Bingtian’s China sprinters miss out on 4x100m relay medal
- Su Bingtian and company’s 37.79 not enough to better Rio 2016 fourth-place finish
- China’s women finish sixth in season’s best 42.71 seconds in first 4x100m relay since Sydney 21 years ago
China’s pursuit of another gold fell short in the men’s 4x100m relay but a national record-equalling 37.79 seconds run from their speedsters at the Olympic Stadium got them as close as they have been to a medal.
Asia’s fastest man Su Bingtian, Tang Xingqiang, Wu Zhiqiang and Xie Zhenye finished in fourth after Canada pipped them to the line, the second Games in a row where they have just missed out on the podium.
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Three of the Tokyo quartet – Tang, Xie and Su – had finished fourth in Rio (along with Zhang Peimeng) in 37.90 seconds, while only 32-year-old Su remained from the fifth-place finish in London nine years ago.
Italy’s remarkable sporting summer continued as Marcell Jacobs added 4x100m gold to his shock 100m gold on this track earlier in the week. They won in 37.50 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of the British quartet.
Great Britain had a commanding lead but lost it to the Italians to slip to silver, while Canada (37.70) won bronze, just as they had in Rio.