Canadian men's 4x100m relay team set for high-speed dress rehearsal at London Diamond League

If Canada fields its A team and each member is two months sharper than the last time they performed as a unit, then the men's 4×100 relay at Saturday's Diamond League track and field meet in London could turn into a clinic.

It is rare for both men's and women's relays to be held on the circuit, and even without the heavyweights from the USA and Jamaica, we can expect some fierce competition. Japan will be there, as will the Netherlands and France. Great Britain plans to field two teams in the men's event.

The last time we saw Canada in action, they outclassed all of those teams. Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse won silver together at the world relays in May, running 37.89 seconds, and behind only a powerful team from the United States If this quartet is healthy and performs to their potential, they will be a medal threat at any world final.

But reaching the podium next month in Paris isn't just about top performance at best. It's also about depth, and the Canadian team needs to find answers.

A pessimist might see a dilemma for Athletics Canada relay coach Glenroy Gilbert. An optimist sees an opportunity. Whichever team the U.S. fields in Paris will have more raw speed than the Canadian team, but in the relay, continuity is key. And Saturday's race therefore offers an opportunity to gain valuable data on which groups of riders are likely to perform best under high pressure, and that information could help Canada get back on the podium in Paris.

Last summer at the world championships in Budapest, a lack of depth limited Canada's chances of winning a relay medal.

De Grasse had a lackluster season heading into the Worlds. He qualified for the 200-meter final, widely considered his best event, but without a sub-20-second time to his credit that year, he was out of contention. Then came the scheduling conflict: the relay preliminaries and the 200-meter final were scheduled for the same session. De Grasse, usually a top runner, opted out of the relay to focus on his individual race. The relay team missed the final, and De Grasse did not medal in the 200.

But here's what happened last summer

It was last summer.

Talent and depth

For now, from what we know, the entire squad is healthy. De Grasse also made it known that he plans to arrive in Paris fit to run every lap of every race.

As for depth?

On paper, Canada has more in 2024.

Eliezer Adjibi (10.04), Duan Asemota (10.03) and Malachi Murray (10.01) have all threatened the 10-second barrier this season, showing the race speed that the Canadian team lacked last year. Some or all of them may need to put those wheels to good use in Paris, as the 200-metre final, a goal for Brown, Rodney and De Grasse, is once again scheduled to take place in the same session as the relay preliminaries. From there, it looks like another scheduling puzzle to solve, but a breakthrough by Adjibi, Asemota or Murray could make Gilbert's decision easier.

This Saturday's Diamond League event therefore takes on increasing importance, given the rarity of meetings between national relay teams in high-stakes races.

Any track fan can follow the results week by week, note where the fastest people live, and do some crude math to determine which country might field the best relay team, but individual race results are only part of the equation. If raw speed alone determined relay results, we wouldn't even need to hold races. We'd just take the United States, where three sprinters broke 9.9 seconds in Olympic qualifying, and Jamaica, where 9.82 seconds settled for silver because the winner ran 9.77and flip a coin.

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If it's heads, they win. If it's tails, everyone else loses.

The 4×100 is fast and frenetic, and it is essential to circulate the baton around the track without dropping the ball or violating the exchange zone.

The U.S. team can tell you that. Sometimes their men's relays failed spectacularly, as evidenced by the collisions between multiple people that cost them a spot. World Championship medal in 2011. Other times, more mundane missteps have cost them material, such as the illegal exchange that got them disqualified from Rio in 2016.

And at the global level, flawless exchanges separate the finalists from the competitors who are content with the finish line, and the medalists from the others.

Again, ask the U.S. men’s relay teams how that works. They led for three legs at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, before a slight hiccup during the changeover between Eli Hall and leader Marvin Bracy-Williams. Against lesser competition, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Bracy Williams ran the final stretch and crossed the line in 37.55 seconds, just a few strides off the national record but still worthy of a world podium finish.

The lineup that won gold in Eugene is the same one that won silver at the World Relays last May. We know they are capable of producing clean exchanges in big races, whether they are leading, trailing or tied. As for the second team, Saturday’s Diamond League event offers a chance to see how well the youngsters Adjibi (23), Murray (24) and Asemota (27) fit in with the regulars, and whether the newcomers can translate world-class linear speed into top-level relay success.

It's a high-speed dress rehearsal that provides better information than training sessions. We'll see not just who can match the UK and Japan, but who can receive and pass the baton with equal ease, and do it in a stadium full of screaming fans. You can simulate those stakes and that atmosphere on a training track, but you can't replicate them. But if they can do it in London, it's a sign they can do it in Paris too.

As a group, Canada still has the speed and skill to reach the Olympic podium; getting there is a test of the program's depth.

And how deep are they this summer?

Maybe we'll see on Saturday.