RIO DE JANEIRO—The United States’ women’s 4×100-metre relay team dropped the baton in Thursday’s first-round heat, the Americans’ hopes of defending their Olympic title apparently dashed.

But after arguing sprinter Allyson Felix was impeded upon during a hand-off to English Gardner, the Americans filed a successful protest and got a second chance to qualify for the final.

Canada finished one-hundredth of a second faster than China, meaning the United States would bump the Chinese from the final if it posts a better qualifying time.

In a surreal scene on the tracks, the team ran by themselves Thursday evening, where they bested last-placed China’s time of 42.70 and qualified for the finals.

“I got bumped coming into the exchange zone and it just completely threw me off balance,” Felix said. “I tried to hold it together to get it to English.”

She couldn’t, though, and the baton fell to the ground. Felix picked it up and the Americans made sure to finish the race, something their coaches stressed at their pre-Olympics relays camp.

“I just remember them telling us, if there’s an appeal, you have to make an effort,” Felix said, after the race — something she had told NBC immediately after finishing.

Officials with U.S. Track and Field filed the protest after the race, saying a runner from the Brazilian team impeded with Felix as the Americans tried to make their hand-off.

The Brazilian team was disqualified after the race for obstruction.

“We’re just going to regroup, get ourselves together and go out there and be able to compete in the final,” Gardner before a final decision had been made.

After missing the podium in 2004 and ‘08, the U.S. relay team won gold four years ago in London, edging out the speedy Jamaicans. Felix and Tianna Bartoletta are the only returners from that group. Felix, 30, is also in the relay pool for the women’s 4×400-meter race.

Correction - August 19, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated China's time as 47.20

