TOKYO — Canada fell short of going back-to-back years on top of the podium in the men’s 4×100-metre relay. However, they showed they are still a power to be reckoned with.

The quartet of Andre De Grasse, Brendon Rodney, Jerome Blake and Aaron Brown won silver at the world athletics championships on Sunday, with a season-best time of 37.55 seconds.

Canada came into Sunday’s race being the Olympic champions, the first time Canada won gold in the event since the 1996 Olympics. The group ran 37.50 to win gold in Paris in 2024.

However, it’s a return to the podium for the Canadian team at worlds after not making the final in 2023. The group won gold at the 2022 world championships.

The United States struck gold (37.29) to defend their world title on Sunday and the Netherlands (37.81) grabbed bronze.

Canada was running strong through the rainy conditions at Japan National Stadium, with their usual clean handoffs in play. Rodney handed the baton off to De Grasse in second place behind the Americans, with Ghana in third.

De Grasse was able to keep Dutch anchor Elvis Afrifa at bay after he had pulled the Netherlands ahead of Ghana. But De Grasse couldn’t chase down American anchor Noah Lyles, who won bronze in the 100 and gold in the 200 earlier at the world championships.

The Americans were .13 seconds ahead of Canada by the final handoff, with Lyles running an 8.84-second split, to De Grasse’s 8.97.

Just minutes before, Canada’s women’s 4×100 relay squad finished seventh. Sade McCreath, Jacqueline Madogo, Marie-Eloise Leclair and Audrey Leduc finished with a time of 42.82 seconds.

The U.S. (41.75), Jamaica (41.79) and Germany (41.87) finished on the podium.

The men’s relay podium finish allowed Canada to close the world championships with five medals (three gold, one silver, one bronze). Canada placed third on the medal table thanks to the three golds, with the U.S. leading the way with 16 and Kenya having won seven.

Evan Dunfee of Richmond, B.C., won gold in the men’s 35-kilometre race walk, Camryn Rogers, also from Richmond, earned gold in the women’s hammer throw, while Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, B.C., struck gold in the men’s hammer throw.

Edmonton’s Marco Arop took bronze in the men’s 800 on Saturday.

Rogers and Katzberg became the first Canadians to ever defend their world titles.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2025.