U.S. men disqualifed in 4x100 relay

PARIS -- Canada won the men's Olympic 4x100m relay on Friday after the favored foursome from the United States messed up a changeover and were disqualified.

Andre de Grasse ran a superb last leg to bring the Tokyo silver medalists home in 37.50 seconds for their second gold in the event following their 1996 win.

Akani Simbine ran a terrific last leg to get South Africa silver in an African record 37.57. Zharnel Hughes finished it for Britain, earning bronze in 37.61.

Hughes was in the team that finished second in Tokyo but was later stripped of the medal due to a doping offense by teammate CJ Ujah.

The U.S. failure was the latest in a long series as they have not won the event they once dominated since 2000.

Christian Coleman gave them a great start but ended up virtually colliding with Kenny Bednarek at the first handover. They recovered to finish well but were disqualified as the exchange was illegal.

Since 1995, in the Olympics and World Championships, the U.S. have now had 11 dropped batons, disqualifications or bans.

400-METER HURDLES FINAL

PARIS -- Rai Benjamin finally got the better of great rival Karsten Warholm to win the Olympic 400-meter hurdles title, continuing the United States' track and field gold rush and foiling the Norwegian's bid to be the second man to retain the title.

Benjamin, second behind Warholm in the Tokyo final and twice adrift of him when collecting two silvers and a bronze in world championships, always looked in control and equaled his season best 46.46 seconds.

World record holder Warholm, who has struggled to hit those stratospheric levels this season, battled all the way home for silver in 47.06.

Brazilian Alison dos Santos, who took bronze in Tokyo but made Friday's final only as a fast loser, got the bronze again in 47.26 as the three quickest men ever to run the event filled the podium.

"I can't believe I actually finally did it," the 27-year-old Benjamin told reporters.

"It just happened at the right moment. My family is here, my friends are here. To do it in front of them means so much to me. I'm just so excited."

Asked when he felt he had the race in the bag, he said 5 meters before the line.

"I thought I'd better dip but no one was there so I thought, 'Wait a minute, hold on, I'm actually doing this'. And I did it. Just a great feeling.

"It does suck when people doubt your abilities, not knowing the full story of what's going on. I've been battling injury, there's a lot of stuff that happens off the track that nobody really sees."

Benjamin's gold took his country's Paris track and field tally to 11, with another 10 silver and eight bronze.

That is in stark contrast with France. The presence of local favorite Clement Ducos in the field cranked up the volume as the home fans were desperate to see a first French track and field medal, but he fell short in fourth, leaving them only Saturday's final session to try to break the drought.

TRIPLE JUMP FINAL

PARIS -- Spain's Jordan Diaz won gold in the men's triple jump, securing his country's first ever Olympic medal in the event by defeating defending champion Pedro Pichardo of Portugal, who had to settle for silver.

Pichardo and Diaz were neck and neck after two attempts, with Diaz jumping 17.86 meters, two centimeters ahead of his rival.

Pichardo thought he had beaten the Spaniard with his last attempt, but when the result came out -- 17.81m -- he threw himself to the ground in disappointment.

It was a stunning Olympic debut for Diaz, 23, who shook the sport this year by leaping 18.18m in June, the third best jump of all time and only 11cm short of the world record.

"I've had this dream since I was a child," said Diaz, who was born in Cuba but moved to Spain to train and got citizenship. "I'm so happy, and I also need a holiday right now."

Pichardo, meanwhile, said he made mistakes during the final and paid for it.

"I'm not very motivated to keep going, I'm going to think about it," the 31-year-old told reporters.

Italy's Andy Diaz Hernandez, who is also originally Cuban, won bronze with a 17.64m jump.

"I am very happy, because it is the first time I've competed in the Italian jersey, for the Italian flag. I had promised all Italians to take a medal, and for this first time, I made it," he said.

Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango, bronze medalist in Tokyo, finished fifth with a best effort of 17.50, while Jamaican 19-year-old Jaydon Hibbert came in fourth with 17.61 in an impressive result.

Brazil's Almir dos Santos finished 11th but still ended his Olympic run on a memorable note, falling to one knee to propose to his girlfriend in front of the crowd.

--Reuters, Special to Field Level Media