THE men’s 4x400m team joined the women’s 4x100m as the only Jamaican relay squads to qualify for the World Athletics Championships after what were mostly underwhelming performances at the World Athletics Relays held in Guangzhou, China, from May 10-11.
On Sunday’s final day the Jamaican men dug deep, producing a gutsy performance to place third in their second-round heat and book a spot at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, in September. The men’s 4×400 team failed to qualify for the Olympic Games last year.
The mixed 4x100m relay team claimed second place in their final event, which was not a World Championships qualifier.
Jamaica’s women’s sprint relay team, which had secured their World Championships spot from Saturday’s first round, won bronze in their final on Sunday.
However, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) must find a way to get the other three teams into the World Championships. The men’s 4x100m, women’s 4x400m, and Mixed 4x400m all failed in their qualifying attempts for a variety of reasons.
After the men’s 4x400m quartet just missed qualification on the opening day when they placed fourth in their heat, a superb, well-timed, third-leg run from Zandrion Barnes set up a third place finish in 3:02.00 minutes on Sunday.
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Barnes split 44.78 seconds, the second-best leg in the race, as he took Jamaica into the qualifying spot.
Demar Francis, who had run on the mixed 4x400m team on Saturday, replaced Javier Brown and joined lead-off runner Rusheen McDonald and anchor man Tarees Rhoden to ensure there would be none of the drama that plagued the team in its failed efforts to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.
The women’s 4x100m relay team replaced Tia Clayton with Natasha Morrison and ran 42.33 seconds for third. Great Britain stormed to a surprise win on Sunday’s final day.
Morrison took over the starting duties, handing over to sprint great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, while Tina Clayton was shifted to the third leg, with Shericka Jackson on anchor.
“We came out, took the chance, got a medal, qualified for the World Championships in Tokyo. All in all we are very pleased,” Fraser-Pryce said afterwards.
“[We are] grateful for getting a bronze medal, and we will leave the fight for another day. There is some youth in our team so it is good to have them get experience through the competition because, ultimately, they are the ones who [will] carry on the legacy,” added the many-time World Championships and Olympic Games gold medallist.
Great Britain won with 42.21, ahead of Spain (42.28). The United States finished fourth.
Earlier, the mixed 4x100m relay team improved on their performance from Saturday, running 40.44 seconds to finish behind Canada. The Jamaicans made two changes to the team that won their first-round heat on Saturday, with Serena Cole and Bryan Levell replacing Morrison and Rasheed Foster.
A slightly delayed baton exchange between Krystal Sloley on the second leg and Javari Thomas could have made the difference between silver and gold.
Canada won the race, running a world-best 40.30, with Great Britain taking third in 40.88.
Sloley said: “We are satisfied with the result — we are grateful, I should say. [We are] not at our best, we are hungry for the gold, it’s in our flag: green, black and gold!”
Levell added: “…competing here, I am happy — and I would be even more happy if we can get a gold medal”.
For the second-straight day the Jamaican men’s 4x100m attempt to qualify for the World Athletics Championships was met with disaster.
Jamaica’s effort to qualify on Saturday ended as the baton exchange between Julian Forte and Yohan Blake was not completed. The team crashed out, despite having — in theory at least — one of the strongest teams in the championships. A day later, Forte pulled up injured on the second leg as their dream again went up in smoke.
The Jamaican coaches had opted for the same team that ran in the first round, with Rohan Watson leading off, to Forte, then Yohan Blake on the third leg, and Olympic Games men’s 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson on anchor.
The mixed 4x400m relay came agonisingly close to booking their spot in the second round but came up just short as they were fourth in 3:14.42. That team featured Javier Brown, Kelly-Ann Beckford, Delano Kennedy and Roniesha McGregor.
Spain ran a national record 3:12.55 minutes to win, followed by Germany (3:13.35) and China (3:13.39), who ran a national record.
Jamaica will have to wait until the end of the qualifying period in August to know their final fate. The time they ran on Sunday saw them tied for 12th with Colombia.
The Jamaican women’s 4x400m team did not show up for their second-round race on Sunday, after finishing in last place overall in the first round with a time of 3:40.54.
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