3 months ago
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It was another tough day out for Jamaica on the final day of the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China, yesterday as only one of the four relay teams booked their spots to the World Athletics Championships in the second round of qualification.
Despite the disappointment, the Jamaican contingent left the World Relays with two medals as they took silver in the mixed 4x100m final, clocking a speedy 40.44. They finished behind gold medallists Canada, 40.30, with Great Britain rounding off the podium in 40.88. The members of the mixed 4x100m relay quartet were Serena Cole, Krystal Sloley, Javari Thomas and Bryan Levell. The mixed 4x100m will not be run at the Tokyo 2025 World Championships.
The women’s 4x100m relay team also left with medals as they took home the bronze in their final.
They stopped the clocked in 42.33, finishing behind winners Great Britain, 42.21, and Spain, 42.28. The sprint relay quartet, in running order, was Natasha Morrison, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Tina Clayton and Shericka Jackson.
With the women’s 4x100m team already booking their spot on Saturday, the remaining four teams entered the final day knowing they had one last chance to secure an automatic qualification spot.
However, it was only the men’s 4x400m relay team that made the qualifying mark in round two qualifying, as a series of unfortunate circumstances marred the remaining three qualification attempts.
The quartet of Rusheen McDonald, Demar Francis, Zandrion Barnes and Tarees Rhoden did just enough in heat one to qualify for the World Championships.
They took the final qualifying spot when they finished third in 3:02.00, finishing behind winners Brazil, 3:01.14, and Netherlands, 3:01.32.
It was a sliver of redemption for the team who had suffered the disappointment of missing out on qualification last year to the Paris Olympic Games.
Questions will be asked, however, about the women’s 4x400m relay team after their poor showing at the World Relays.
Following a pedestrian 3:40.54 in their heat yesterday, finishing last in their race, the team failed to face the starter this time around, registering a DNS (Did Not Start).
RELAY HEARTBREAK
It was further heartbreak in the men’s 4x100m relay, as Jamaica registered successive DNF (Did Not Finish) across both qualifying attempts.
On Saturday, a dropped baton spoiled the team’s strong start in their heat and saw them returning for the second round of qualifiers yesterday.
This time, it was injury which stood in their way as on the second leg, Julian Forte pulled up injured, which meant the team will miss out on automatic qualification.
In the mixed 4x400m relays, Jamaica was one second shy of the mark as they placed fourth in their heat in a time of 3:14.42.
Spain had taken the win in a national record of 3:12.55, with Germany second, 3:13.35, and China third in a national-record 3:13.39.
For the three teams which missed out on automatic qualification, it will be a race against time to secure the remaining spots at the World Championships,
Each team will need to be ranked among the top two next best-ranked team globally by the end of the World Athletics qualifying period, which ends August 24, 2025.
English (US) ·