There have been shattering scenes for Australia at the World Athletics Championships as a historic moment was wiped from the record books on Saturday night.
The Aussie men’s 4x400m relay team was celebrating openly on the Tokyo track after breaking an iconic 41-year-old Australian record in their heat.
But the elation turned into a nightmare when minutes later word filtered through that the Aussie quartet of Cooper Sherman, Aidan Murphy, Reece Holder and Thomas Reynolds had been disqualified.
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It headlined a disastrous night for the Aussie relay squads with the women’s 4x100m team also disqualified after dropping the baton at the first hand-over.
The men’s 4x100m team is the only Aussie squad that will compete in Sunday’s finals.
It is the men’s 4x400m team that will be feeling the most pain.
It was sheer heartbreak for the team that finished their heat third having also set a new Oceania record with a time of 2:58.00.
That mark would have broken the 41-year-old Australian record set at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics.
After a review of the race, officials ruled Murphy had stepped out of the exchange box before Holder had passed the baton.
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Australian officials immediately lodged an appeal, but it was unsuccessful.
Athletics Australia posted a message on social media, calling the result “heartbreaking”.
Former Olympic runner Tamsyn Manou said on SBS: “Oh no. Oh god. We’re going to get disqualified.
“This is devastating. He (Aidan) just put his leg on the wrong side. Aidan’s not experienced at 4×400 but they have practised it.”
Aussie legend Bruce McAvaney said: “So no national record. There’s a bit of air that’s just gone out of a very, very lovely balloon.”
Cameras captured the exact moment the Aussie women’s 4x400m team found out the men’s team had been disqualified.
“Oh my god, no,” a shocked Mia Gross said.
It was a night of high drama in Tokyo with several big surprises unfolding.
World 100m gold medallist Oblique Seville was deprived of a tilt at a golden double after a fumbled baton saw Jamaica fail to advance to the 4×100 metres relay final.
Seville on the second leg, and the handover to Ryiem Forde on the third leg was slick.
But then came disaster as Forde’s attempt to pass the baton on to anchor leg runner and world 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson failed.
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