Entering Friday’s men’s 4×100-metre relay, Canada was considered far from the favourite to land on the podium.
Despite having medalled in the previous two Olympic Games, the Canadians’ individual showing in the 100-metre suggested that the quartet would struggle to snag its third straight Olympic medal.
However, running in the outside lane, the team of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse ran a stunning race, crossing the finish line in 37.50 seconds to secure one of the most shocking gold medals in Canadian Olympic history.
Running as Canada’s anchor, De Grasse blazed through the final leg in 8.89 seconds, landing his seventh career Olympic medal and tying him with swimmer Penny Oleksiak for the country’s most decorated Olympian of all time.
Brown, Blake, Rodney and De Grasse had previously won gold together at the 2022 World Athletics Championship in Oregon and won silver as a group at the Tokyo Olympics.
In the aftermath of Canada’s upset gold medal win, many took to social media to congratulate the new Olympic champs.
Here are some of the best reactions: