U.S. Sprinters Show World They’re Not Washed Up Yet : Track and field: Without Lewis this time, men’s 400-meter relay team equals world record in semifinal heat.

STUTTGART, Germany —  For only the fifth time in a major track and field competition since the Olympics were revived in 1896 and the first time since 1976, the United States failed to win either the men’s 100 or 200 meters in the World Championships, a reversal of fortune that is not causing anguish in the rest of the world.

That is particularly true in Great Britain, whose coach, Frank Dick, lectured to all who would listen Friday night--after one of his sprinters, John Regis, finished second to Namibian Frank Fredericks in the 200--about the trouble with American track and field. He ignored the inconvenient fact that the United States had 20 medals at the time to seven for the British.

Finally, Carl Lewis had heard enough.

“A lot of people think America is dead,” he said after his third-place finish in the 200. “But don’t write us off yet. The sprinters will be back.”

Fewer than 24 hours later, while Lewis was jetting back to his home in Houston, the U.S. sprinters he left behind to run in the semifinals of the 400-meter relay were jetting around the track at Gottlieb Daimler Stadium in 37.40 seconds, equaling the world record set by the United States in last summer’s Olympics.

That team at Barcelona was anchored by Lewis, as had all six U.S. teams that equaled or tied the record since 1977. The only other team to hold the record during that period was one from France in 1990.

“We made a statement today, that it doesn’t take Carl Lewis for the U.S. to set a world record,” said U.S. 100-meter champion Andre Cason, who finished second in the 100 last Sunday night to Great Britain’s Linford Christie. One of Cason’s relay teammates, Dennis Mitchell, was third in that race.

In the semifinals of the four relays Saturday, the U.S. teams were fastest in three and second fastest in the other, leading to the possibility they will sweep in today’s finals for the only time in a major meet other than the boycotted 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

But it was the men’s sprint relay team that created the buzz, running the fastest time this year, 37.99, in the first round Saturday morning before returning seven hours later to equal the world record.

The Americans might have broken the record if the anchor, former 100-meter world record-holder Leroy Burrell, had run through the finish line instead of gliding for the final couple of steps.

Burrell, of course, was not focused on the clock, knowing only that he had to bring his team home in fourth place or better to advance to today’s final. He certainly achieved that. Canada set a national record to finish second in the heat and was still more than a half second behind at 37.99.

When Burrell and his teammates finally saw their time flashing on the scoreboard, they were astonished, some of them falling to the ground in exaggerated faints, which the crowd of 52,146 thought was overdoing it a bit, whistling in derision.

“Was this the final?” Christie asked sarcastically while watching the celebration.

When Christie, the anchor for the British team that finished third in 38.05, was informed of the time, he noted that it was only a semifinal and said, “Why bother?”

They weren’t bothering, the U.S. sprinters insisted.

“That was a conservative race for us,” Burrell said. “We just have a lot of speed.”

Added Cason: “We were just relaxing and letting our God-given talent take over. I have a funny feeling that we’re going to run faster tomorrow than we did today, but I won’t say that.”

The same four runners from the semifinal--Jon Drummond, Cason, Mitchell and Burrell, in that order--will line up for the United States today. The British will insert Colin Jackson and Regis to run with Tony Jarrett and Christie, in that order. After setting the world record in the 110-meter hurdles Friday night, Jackson went to England for a wedding, but will be back for the final.

“That was their team for today,” Christie said of the United States. “We’ve got our team for tomorrow.”

Whether that was a challenge was difficult to figure, but Drummond interpreted it as one.

“Tell him I said bring a tank because this is going to be a war,” Drummond said. “If they’ve got some artillery, bring it on. That’s what track and field is all about, whoever gets to the finish line first. If they beat us, it’ll have to be a world record.”

Even if his comments failed to match Charles Barkley’s for cleverness, they were about as in-your-face as track and field gets.

“I like the way he talks because sometimes he talks like me,” Canadian leadoff runner Robert Esmie said of Drummond. “We’re both talking all kinds of trash talk. That gets me hyped, makes me want to run.”

He will have to run fast if the Canadians hope to win--unless, of course, it turns out the Americans’ mouths are too fast for their feet and they make a major mistake, which they have been known to do in the past.

“Sometimes we forget we have to cross the line with the baton,” Cason said.