Team USA continued their dominance at the 2017 IAAF World Relays which held centrestage in the Bahamas between April 22 and 23, winning five of the nine events competed in over a two-day period.
The American squad won the men’s 4x100m, men and women’s 4x400m, and men and women’s 4x800m, amassing a total of 60 points to win a third consecutive Golden Baton, thus cementing their status as the world’s best relay nation.
Jamaica finished 2nd on the overall standings with a total of 39 points, with Australia coming 3rd with 24 points.
The first victory for USA on Day 2 was in the men’s 4x800m where Brannon Kidder, Erik Sowinski, Casimir Loxsom and Clayton Murphy raced to a World Lead (WL) of 7:13.16 to finish ahead of Kenya and Poland who clocked Season’s Bests (SB) of 7:13.70 and 7:18.74 respectively.
Buoyed on by the performance of their compatriots, the women’s 4x400m team did not disappoint, with the quartet of Phyllis Francis, Ashley Spencer, Quanera Hayes and Natasha Hastings also posting a scorching WL of 3:24.36 to strike GOLD in the event.
Poland followed with an SB of 3:28.28, while Jamaica won Bronze in 3:28.49. The two African countries in the final, Botswana and Nigeria placed 6th and 7th respectively. It was a National Record (NR) for Botswana (3:30.13), while the Nigerian team comprising of Patience Okon-George, Ugonna Ndu, Jennifer Edobi and Margaret Bamgbose clocked a time of 3:32.94.
Brazil won the women’s B Final in an SB of 3:34.68, with Canada and Colombia settling for 2nd and 3rd in 3:35.07 and 3:38.02.
Winning the men’s 4x400m event was not a walk in the park for the quartet of David Verburg, Tony McQuay, Kyle Clemons and LaShawn Merritt who had to hold their own against a resilient Botswana side comprising of Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe, Onkabetse Nkobolo and the brilliant Karabo Sibanda.
But for Merritt’s experience which came to play in the final leg, Botswana may have staged an upset at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau. USA returned a time of 3:02.13 as Botswana followed in an SB of 3:02.28, while Jamaica settled for Bronze with an SB of 3:02.86.
Kenya won the B Final after posting a time of 3:06.36, while Belgium and Poland placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in 3:07.14 and 3:07.89.
The fourth edition of the IAAF World Relays will be staged in 2019.
