USA allowed to re-run women's 4x100 after baton drop

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Team USA's women's 4x100 squad finished its heat Thursday in 1:06.71 after dropping its baton on the Rio de Janeiro track.

That time would have forced it to miss the final event.

But the USA filed an appeal after the run, saying that the Baton was dropped because the runner was bumped by a Brazilian runner.

The jury of appeal decided to let the USA re-run at 8 p.m.

Superstar sprinter Allyson Felix was the runner bumped on the handoff. After watching replay, the judges disqualified Brazil. The re-run will look awkward, however, as the United States will run it on the track alone in a time trial. The team needs to beat 52.70 to force another time trial between China and Canada, who tied during the heat.

"The Jury of Appeals for the Rio Games upheld the USA's appeal, saying that Felix was indeed obstructed on the second exchange," the IAAF said in a statement, via USA TODAY. "The relay team will re-run the race alone tonight (7 p.m. ET), needing to post a time of at least 42.70 seconds to advance into the finals."

"But a successful re-run will create a second problem: Both China and Canada finished with identical 42.70-second times. Therefore, should the USA post a faster time, China and Canada would need to race again to decide which team makes the eight-country final."

The Americans won gold in the event in the 2012 London Summer Games.

"I got bumped coming into the exchange zone," Felix told reporters after the race. "It just completely threw me off balance. I tried to pull it together to get it to English."

Felix won a silver medal in the women's 400-meter race with a time of 49.51.