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Italy Upsets Fast-Charging Brits (Again!) to Win Men’s 4 x 100m at Tokyo Olympics

A stunning final leg by Italy’s Filippo Tortu hands Italy another big sporting win over their British rivals.

It’s becoming something of a theme for 2021: Italian teams beating their British rivals in the big sporting arenas. But the latest one, in the final of the men’s 4 x 100m relay at Tokyo 2020, really did hurt as the Italian Filippo Tortu chased down British anchorman Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake despite trailing clearly at the start of the final leg. With Mitchell-Blake appearing to tighten up, Tortu threw himself over the line to grab the gold by just one-hundreth of a second in a time of 37.50—although he looked afterward like he simply could not believe what had just happened. The Canadian anchorman Andre de Grasse, gold medalist in the 200m, brought his team in from fifth at the final baton exchange to claim bronze.