Team USA were many people's favourites to win the men's 4x100m relay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.The widely-revered sprinting nation entered the Summer Games with three of the world's fastest sprinters, seemingly giving them a clear shot at wrestling the gold medal back from Jamaica.However, in a stunning development at the Japan National Stadium, the Americans won't even get the chance to challenge for a medal after dramatically failing to qualify for the final.

Team USA out of 4x100m relay

The US fielded a strong quartet of Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Cravon Gillespie for the preliminary heats on Thursday, but could remarkably only manage a sixth-place finish.

China, Canada, Italy, Germany and Ghana all finished above the Americans in that order and their time of 38.10 seconds was not enough to secure a 'fastest losers' spot in Friday's main event.

Although the US time was the eighth-quickest amongst the 16 relay teams in action, it is only the top three from each race and the next two fastest quartets that qualify for the final.

It's a remarkable situation that begs the question: where did it all go wrong for the Americans?

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Kerley and Baker's botched changeover

Only the US sprinters themselves can ultimately answer that question, but one variable that clearly played a damning role in the defeat concerned the second baton changeover.

That's because the broadcast footage clearly showed that Kerley and Baker's transition from the back straight to the top bend was a clunky one at best, costing the team valuable time.

And the action replays were heart-wrenching for American viewers with Baker's desperate attempts to grab the baton from Kerley looking even more painful in slow-motion.

We'll let the athletes themselves decide at whose foot the blame should lie, but there's no denying that the changeover was woeful either way, so be sure to check out the footage down below:

Watch: The full race

Pretty painful, right? Well, you can see how the consequences of the botched exchange impacted the Americans further down the line by checking out the full race right here:

Gillespie looked for a brief second to have rescued matters with a blistering start to his anchor leg, but the chasing pack eventually swallowed him up and ensured that Team USA bowed out early.

Team USA come in for criticism

And given just how much track and field performances mean back in the US, it should come as no surprise that the men's exit from the relay has been met with great swathes of criticism.

Legendary Olympian Carl Lewis, who won gold in the 4x100m relay in 1984 and 1992, was one of the most vocal critics by declaring that 'the USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay.'

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Lewis continued on Twitter: "The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw."

And Lewis' rage will hardly be assuaged by Kerley and Baker's answers when they were asked about the level of preparation that the team had executed ahead of their premature exit.

According to USA Today, the two sprinters involved in the clunkiest changeover of all simply answered "Don't know," and "Not much," when asked how much practice they had been afforded.

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That just about says it all.