By Mitch Phillips
TOKYO (Reuters) -The United States, winners of nine of the last 10 world 4×400 men’s relay golds, failed to reach the final on Saturday after trailing in sixth in their heat – though they are likely to appeal after being obstructed during a takeover.
The U.S. have a painful history of foul ups in the sprint relay but rarely have any problems in the 4×400 and have won winning 12 of the 19 previous finals.
However, they struggled to impose themselves from the start on Saturday. They were back in the pack after the first two legs and a clash with the Zambians at the second changeover made it even worse. By the time Jenoah McKiver collected the baton for the anchor leg he was in last place.
He initially made up plenty of places but had gone off too fast and faded back to sixth as an impressive South Africa and a surprising Qatar led the way home.
Botswana, the Olympic silver medallists, had three finalists in the individual 400m final on Thursday, though gold medallist Busang Collen Kebinatshipi was rested from the heats.
Their quartet were still strong enough to win the second heat ahead of Belgium and Australia, who set an area record.
The final takes place on Sunday, the last night of the championships.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ken Ferris)
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