Tokyo, Japan - Hopes were high for Team USA’s men’s relay track team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but after failing to qualify for the final race, there was plenty of blame to go around.

It was "business as usual" for the US men’s track and field relay team as they yet again failed to medal, finishing sixth in their 4x100 relay final. It’s been two decades since the American men stood atop the field in this race at the Olympics and since then, each opportunity to even medal has been met with sheer disappointment.

There was a lot to criticize in Thursday’s semifinal race, as a bad hand-off, a mismatched team, and a lack of substantial practicing completed a recipe for disaster.

Ronnie Baker (27), Cravon Gillespie, Trayvon Bromell, and Fred Kerley were the ones tasked with returning the US team back to greatness in Tokyo. Baker, who also ran in the 100-meter dash placing fifth, started off the debacle in the third leg, having trouble grabbing the baton from Kerley. It took three tries, but by the time exchange was done, the race was already out of reach.

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"We just didn't get the job done today. That's all," said Kerley, in his post-race comments to ESPN.

What really had the race falling out of reach for the US was the bungled exchange. Thursday’s race was a little bit of history repeating itself, as a faulty baton exchange cost Team USA a spot in the 2008 Olympic final. In 2016, the Americans also ran into more bad luck when they were disqualified for a bad pass in the medal race.

In the aftermath of this latest disappointing finish, a lack of adequate practice time emerged as the main reason for such a dismal effort. It's true that the amount of (safe) training time was small because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it was no different for every other competing nation – just look at the teams from China, Canada, and Italy, who finished the semifinal without any hitches.

Speaking about his difficulty with the baton pass, Ronnie Baker explained, "Trying to time that up perfectly with a couple of practices is a little difficult, but it is what it is."

A living track and field legend for Team USA wasn’t so accepting of Thursday’s results. Olympic champion Carl Lewis, who has two 4x100 medals amongst his total of nine, didn’t mince words when it came to this year’s team. His brutal tweet didn't spare any feelings either: "It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw."

This race was the tenth time in 26 years that the US men’s relay team fell short by way of a disqualification, doping violation, or baton mishap in an international competition, whether world championships or Olympics.