Mixed bag for J’can relay teams

THERE WAS stark contrast in results for Jamaica at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in the women’s and men’s 4x100-metre teams yesterday.

The women booked their spot in the final in dominant fashion, while the men’s sprint relay team crashed and burned after disaster struck in the final exchange.

Jamaica will enter the women’s sprint relay final as the second-fastest qualifier, as they took semi-final one in a speedy 41.80 seconds.

The quartet of Jodean Williams, Tia Clayton, Tina Clayton and Jonielle Smith were smooth and efficient in their execution as they finished well ahead of Spain, 42.53 and France, 42.71.

Williams gave the Jamaicans a strong opening, blasting out of the blocks to record the fastest split of the first leg, clocking 11.33.

She said her only focus was to ensure she gave Tia, who ran the second leg, as strong a lead as possible while handing the baton over safely.

“My role in the team was to ensure that I hand my teammate the baton and ensure that she can bring it home safely,” she said.

“Coming into it, I kept telling myself, ‘I need to hand her the baton’ and that’s what I did.”

Tia would clock a speedy 10.32 down the backstretch before handing off to her twin sister and World Championships silver medallist, Tina.

Smith would then anchor Jamaica to victory in a split of 10.04, carrying the baton safely across the line.

She explained she ran full tilt despite having a sizeable lead, as she wanted to ensure the team entered as one of the fastest qualifiers to guarantee a favourable lane draw.

“I wanted to give the team a very good time,” she explained.

“It’s one thing to get the baton first and just cruise through the line, but we wanted a good lane in the final to give the girls the best chance possible of that gold medal. So I ran straight to the line.”

In the men’s event, despite a strong line-up with Akeem Blake, Oblique Seville, Ryeim Forde and Kishane Thompson, Jamaica failed to advance.

Blake was quick out the blocks on the first leg before handing the baton to Seville, who powered down the backstretch in 8.89.

Disaster struck on the final exchange between Forde and Thompson, as the baton fell, ending Jamaica’s chances of a medal.

The team passed through the mixed zone after the race, dejected, and left without a comment.

In the 4x400m relays, Jamaica navigated both events and booked their spots in the finals, albeit also in contrasting ways.

The women were dominant in their semi-final as the quartet of Dejanea Oakley, Stacey-Ann Williams, Roneisha McGregor and Nickisha Pryce dismissed the field to post a then world-leading time of three minutes, 22.77 (3:22.77).

Their world-leading mark would only last until the second semi-final – the United States qualifying in 3:22.53.

In the men’s equivalent, the quartet of Bovel McPherson, Jevaughn Powell, Jasauna Dennis and Delano Kennedy finished fifth in their semi-final, posting a 2:59.13 before being upgraded to fourth.

However, Jamaica suffered major disappointments across the penultimate day of the championships, with several athletes failing to qualify for the finals of their respective events.

In the men’s discus preliminaries, Ralford Mullings, Chad Wright and Fedrick Dacres all failed to advance to the final.

Mullings and Wright threw best efforts of 56.82 metres and 62.87, respectively.

Dacres, on the other hand, fought through the pain of an abductor muscle tear to compete, but could only muster 60.54.

In the women’s shot put, despite improving with every throw, Lloydricia Cameron’s best effort of 17.77 was not good enough to secure her a place in the final.

Navasky Anderson created history, becoming the first Jamaican man to compete in a World Athletics Chapionships 800m final.

He marked the occasion by finishing seventh with a massive national record of 1:42.76, lowering his own national record of 1:43.72 which he set in the semi-finals.

Anderson said he left the field proud of his performance.

“I think, for me, it was a superb performance,” he said. “I’m grateful for my performance tonight; 1:42:76. I knew I had it in me. I knew I could pull it off. I knew I could run with these guys.”

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com