South Korea Men's 4X100m Relay Team Advances to Final Dramatically After Disqualification Overturned Following Appeal

The men's 400m relay national team, which was initially disqualified in the heats, successfully overturned the decision through an appeal and dramatically advanced to the final.

An official from the track and field national team stated, "Immediately after the ruling, we submitted all the video footage we had and filed an appeal stating that we were not subject to disqualification, and the organizers accepted our argument," adding, "We will compete in the final tomorrow."

The official explained, "The judges ruled that we exceeded the baton exchange zone, but from our perspective, that was not the case, so we appealed, and this appeal was accepted."

The men's relay team, consisting of Kim Si-on (Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps), Namadi Joel Jin (Yecheon County Office), Lee Jae-seong (Gwangju City Hall), and Bewsa Daniel Kasama (Ansan City Hall), received a disqualification in Heat 2 of the men's 400m relay at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, on September 27.

The team finished fourth in their heat with a time of 39.33 seconds, behind Japan (38.71 seconds), Thailand (38.89 seconds), and Oman (38.99 seconds). Ranking seventh overall among 12 participating teams, they initially appeared to have secured a spot in the final, which is open to the top eight teams.

However, the judges ruled that the runners crossed the baton exchange zone during the handoff from the first runner, Kim Si-on, to the second runner, Namadi Joel Jin, resulting in a disqualification.

The national team immediately filed an appeal, and by successfully overturning the decision, they are now able to continue their pursuit of a medal.

South Korea is aiming for a medal in the men's 400m relay, spearheaded by Namadi Joel Jin and Bewsa, who finished fourth and fifth in the men's 100m at this tournament.

The final will take place on the night of September 28 at the same venue, where South Korea will compete against Singapore, Sri Lanka, Oman, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Seo Ji-hyun (Jincheon County Office), Kim Seo-yun (Changwon City Hall), Kim Myeong-ji (Jeongseon County Office), and Kim Ju-ha (Siheung City Hall), who competed in Heat 2 of the women's 400m relay, finished fifth in their heat with a time of 44.94 seconds, ranking eighth overall on time to advance to the final.

Cho Ha-rim (Mungyeong City Hall), competing in the women's 3,000m steeplechase final, finished eighth out of eight participants with a time of 10 minutes and 26.06 seconds.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.