Jamaica men drop baton in 4×100 at World Relays
Jamaica is out of the showcase men’s 4×100-metre relay final at the third edition of the IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas after dropping the baton in the heats on Saturday.
For several years, it was the United States that crumbled under the extreme pressure that comes with the men’s sprint relay, but this time, it was their arch rivals Jamaica.
Competing in Heat 1, third leg runner Jevaughn Minzie took off early as Kemar Bailey-Cole charged down the back straight. But when he tried to place the baton into Minzie’s hand, it missed and crashed to the track, their hopes of reclaiming their world relays title from the US falling with it.
As a result of the dropped baton, Yohan Blake, on the anchor leg was left stranded.
“It was just a misunderstanding,” said Everton Clarke, their lead-off runner. “It happens in relays.”
As a result of the mishap, the Netherlands powered to victory in 38.71, a couple of metres clear of China (38.97), who also advanced automatically, and Australia (39.09) who reached the final as a non-automatic qualifier.
“In the final, anything can happen,” said Churandy Martina of the Netherlands shortly afterwards.
The second heat saw no such mishaps, with the first three legs teeing the race up perfectly for a sprint heavyweight clash down the home straight between Justin Gatlin of the US and Andre De Grasse of Canada. Just inches separated them across the line at the Olympics, and that was the case again in The Bahamas, with Gatlin taking the baton a half-metre up then tussling with De Grasse for the entire home straight.
In the end, youth beat experience, with De Grasse even throwing a casual glance to Gatlin as he pushed past before the line, the Canadians taking the win by 0.01 in 38.21. France, third in 39.10, advanced to the final on time.
“I feel like we’re ready and we can win this today,” said De Grasse. “I didn’t want to push it too much. I wanted to save some energy for the finals.”
The third heat proved a one-team race, with Great Britain and Northern Ireland powering away from the outset – Adam Gemilli’s third leg doing particular damage – before Daniel Talbot brought them home in 38.32 ahead of Barbados (39.26).
The final is scheduled for 10:36 pm (9:36 Jamaica time).
