In a blanket finish, the national squad missed out on the silver medal by the narrowest of margins.
South Africa’s 4x400m relay team saved the nation’s blushes on Sunday, breaking an eight-year podium drought at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
While the SA team came close to securing some medals, with multiple athletes reaching finals, they had to wait until the last event in which the country was represented to step on the podium in the Japanese capital.
Lythe Pillay, Udeme Okon, Wayde van Niekerk and Zakithi Nene combined well to complete the four-lap race in 2:57.83.
They finished in the same official time as the United States, who took second place, with the SA quartet edged into third position by just 0.002 (two thousands of a second).
In a blanket finish, pre-race favourites Botswana narrowly held on for gold in 2:57.76.
