Jamaica’s men broke the 4x200m world record, set 20 years ago by the USA, on the opening night of the inaugural IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas. Great Britain made a solid if unspectacular start to the championships, qualifying from each of their respective heats ahead of Sunday’s finals and finishing fifth in the women’s 4x100m final.
Yohan Blake led Jamaica down the home straight to break the existing 4x200m world record by five hundredths of a second with a time of 1min 18.63sec, coming off the back of previous legs by Nickel Ashmeade, Warren Weir and Jermaine Brown. There was another world record set on the night, Kenya’s 4x1500m women beat the previous time by more than 30 seconds, securing an emphatic victory in 16:33.58.
For Britain it was a reasonably positive night. Their 4x100m women clocked a steady time of 43.20 to qualify for the final as winners – Asha Philip, Anyika Onuora, Jodie Williams, Desiree Henry performing well in the heat. Bianca Williams replaced Onuora for the final but some poor baton exchanges cost them.
Britain’s 4x400m men won their heat in 3:00.74, quicker than both the USA and Jamaica who finished first and second respectively in the second heat, although the Bahamas eclipsed that time by 0.47secs in the third. Martyn Rooney began the final leg a couple of paces back but made up the ground with ease to finish comfortably.
Christine Ohuruogu was not selected in the 4x400m women’s heat although she is expected to feature in the line-up for Sunday’s final. The team of Eilidh Child, Shana Cox, Emily Diamond – in her debut senior run – and Margaret Adeoye clocked a time of 3:27.30, finishing behind USA and Jamaica.
There was a carnival atmosphere inside Nassau’s Thomas A Robinson Stadium, where the home crowd erupted whenever the Bahamas were in action. Indeed, the noise only dropped when their women’s 4x400m team dropped the baton, only to raise the roof again as they continued round the track when others had already finished.
The stadium was a cacophony of noise and awash with blue, yellow and black. A band struck up a Caribbean beat throughout an evening that has arguably only been rivaled by the London Olympics in recent times for atmosphere.
The World Relays have attracted more than 40 teams to compete in 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m and 4x1500m races. More than 500 athletes will compete over the weekend for a collective purse of $1.4m and the top eight teams in the 4x100m and 4x400m disciplines qualify for the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
