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Canadians react to record-setting, third-place run by 4x100m team

Friday night at the Olympics was a wild ride for Canadians as the nation's men's 4x100m relay team initially finished fourth before a DQ.

Canadians who tuned in to the men’s 4x100m relay final at the Rio Olympics on Friday were in for a wild ride.

The record-setting squad of Akeem Haynes, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse ran a national record of 37.64 to break the previous mark set in 1996. Canada initially finished fourth in the relay on Friday night but the United States, who crossed the line third, was disqualified. Japan was second behind Jamaica.

Canada was then upgraded to a bronze medal in a crowd-pleasing way as the nation was disqualified in 2012 after initially winning bronze for a lane violation. Canada was on the receiving end of good fortune this time around.

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The anchor runner, De Grasse, won his third medal of the 2016 Games, the first time a Canadian has won three medals in the sprint events at a single Games. He won bronze in the men’s 100m and silver in the 200m. Both of those races, in addition to the 4x100m, were won by Usain Bolt. The Jamaican anchored his team to gold on Friday in the relay.

Race video

RELATED: Full race report for the men’s 4x100m including disqualification details.

Canadians reacted on Twitter showing their support for the team that brought home the sixth medal in the athletics discipline. Canada won just a single bronze at the 2012 Games. It’s even been suggested that De Grasse be the flag bearer for the closing ceremony though he will be in tough with five-medal winner Penny Oleksiak.

De Grasse took the Canadian relay team from sixth place to fourth on the anchor leg.

Canadians and the world react to Canada’s 4x100m bronze

The moment you find out you won the bronze medal

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A shoutout from the National Hockey League franchise Calgary Flames

Canadian Bruny Surin had a feeling pre-race that the 1996 national record would go down

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