RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, CMC – Jamaica’s sprint relay teams easily qualified for their respective finals after posting impressive times – without Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Elaine Thompson – in the preliminary rounds here yesterday.
Olympic 100 metres bronze medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce anchored Jamaica women to 41.79 seconds with Simone Facey, Sashalee Forbes and Veronica Campbell-Brown in tow, to lead the qualifiers.
They were without Thompson who won the 200 metres final on Wednesday night to complete the sprint double.
Great Britain (41.93) and Ukraine (42.49) joined the Jamaicans from the first heat as automatic qualifiers.
Trinidad and Tobago’s team of Semoy Hackette, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Khalifa St Fort grabbed the third automatic spot from heat two with 42.62, with Germany (42.18) and Nigeria (42.55) advancing as the top teams.
The United States finished last and was initially eliminated from the final after Allyson Felix and English Gardner could not complete a baton pass on the third leg.
However, the US lodged a formal protest, claiming interference from Brazil and officials upheld the appeal, resulting in Brazil’s disqualification.
In an unusual move, the US was allowed to run in a time trial later yesterday and qualified for the final after surpassing the time posted by eighth fastest qualifier China.
On the men’s side, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago also avoided any drama in advancing to the final.
Running in heat two, the Jamaicans finished second in a season-best 37.94 to winners Japan who crossed the line first in 37.68. Trinidad and Tobago grabbed the third automatic qualifying spot with 37.96 – another season-best.
Jamaica were without Bolt as he prepared for the final of the 200 metres last night.
Richard Thompson, who anchored the T&T team, said everything was coming together nicely for the final.
“The pressure is always there. This is actually a team that has been together since 2008 – the only person off the squad is Marc Burns and we’ve added Rondell Sorrillo,” Thompson said.
“It is a squad that has formed a chemistry over the years and we’re not worried about the pressure, we’re just going in to have fun.”
In the opening heat, meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis failed to progress after finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
The Antiguan team of Chavaughn Walsh, Cejhae Greene, Jared Jarvis and Tahir Walsh clocked a season-best 38.19 while St Kitts came home in 39.81.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 400 metres hurdles final, Jamaica’s Annsert Whyte missed out on a medal despite running a personal best 48.07 seconds.
Running out of lane six, he kept pace with the field through to the top of the stretch but then faded into fifth place as American Kerron Clement edged out Kenyan Boniface Mucheru Tumuti for gold in a season-best 47.73.
And there was also disappointment for 21-year-old Barbadian Akela Jones who failed to clear 1.89 metres and missed out qualification for the final.
She succeeded on 1.80 on the first try, needed two attempts to clear 1.85 before coming up empty handed at the next stage, to add to her missed opportunity in the heptathlon last week.
“It’s been a tough experience out there on the track,” Jones said.
“I enjoyed being at the Olympics. [I] competed in eight events – the heptathlon was tough, the high jump was a little disappointing today but it’s good being out there and competing with the big Olympians.”
Antiguan Priscilla Frederick joined her on the fringes after failing to clear 1.92 while St Lucian Jeanelle Scheper also bowed out at the same height.
There was no such angst for the other St Lucian in the event, Levern Spencer, who was outstanding in clearing every height on the first attempt through to 1.94.
She will now line up in tomorrow’s final.
