Jamaica’s 4x100m women upstaged by US, add silver

EUGENE, Oregon:

IT WAS not gold for the Jamaican women in the 4x100m relays but they added another medal to their tally as the World Athletics Championships head into its final day.

The team of Kemba Nelson, double sprint Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, five-time world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and world 200m champion Shericka Jackson came second in a season’s best time of 41.18 seconds. The United States team of Melissa Jefferson, Abby Steiner, Jenna Prandini, and Twanisha Terry won in a world-leading time of 41.14. Germany was third in 42.03.

The first exchange from Nelson to Thompson-Herah was longer than they would have liked, leaving Jamaica with much to do. By the time Fraser-Pryce got the baton to Jackson, Terry was in the lead and despite her best efforts could not close the distance in time.

Meanwhile, the team of Ackeem Blake, former world 100m champion Yohan Blake, world championship finalist Oblique Seville and Jelani Walker finished fourth in the men’s 4x100m in 38.06. Canada won the gold in 37.48 while the United States was in second in 37.55 while Great Britain was third in 37.83.

Eight medals

The Caribbean got another gold as reigning world javelin champion Anderson Peters of Grenada defended his crown with a throw of 90.54m. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra was second in 88.13 while Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic was third in 88.09.

Jamaica now has eight medals at the championships, two gold, four silver and one bronze.

After a long wait national champion Britany Anderson, former world champion Danielle Williams and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Megan Tapper go their 100m hurdles campaign and all progressed to tonight’s semi-final with automatic qualifications.

Anderson won her first-round heat in 12.59 which also included reigning world champion Nia Ali of the United States who collided into the last hurdle and didn’t finish the race. She would later be given a disqualification for displacing a hurdle in another land. Anderson said that despite the long wait to start her championships she was pleased with how she managed the race despite her start

“I’m feeling great to finally get the heats out of the way. My start wasn’t the best but the focus to get to the next round (was there). Not do too much but do enough to get to the next round,” Anderson said.

Williams clocked 12.87 for second place, behind Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, who clocked a national record of 12.40. Williams says that she will have to adjust to the quick start which gave her all to do to qualify

“I had to throw caution into the win and just started running and you never want to do that in a hurdles race because it is a rhythm race. Now that I know that the gun is a bit quicker, I have to go quicker. Tapper was also second in her heat, with a time of 12.73, behind the US’ Alia Armstrong (12.48).

The semi-finals will start tonight at 7:05 p.m Jamaica time with the final scheduled for 9:00 p.m.

Three-time national champion Chanice Porter’s best attempt of 6.29 was not enough to qualify for the final of the women’s long jump. Porter only had one legal jump, having fouled her first and final attempts. She said that she had suffered an ankle injury two weeks before the competition and despite her performance, she was pleased to be back competing.

I’m just happy to be jumping again because two weeks ago I rolled my ankle at practice. So to be jumping again that’s huge for me,” Porter said.

The curtain will come down on the championships with the mile relay teams will hope to take Jamaica’s medal tally to double digits after qualifying for their respective finals. In yesterday’s first-round heat the men’s team of Ackeem Bloomfield, Jevaughn Powell, Karayme Bartley and Anthony Cox finished third in 3:01.59 minutes to qualify for the final at 9:35 p.m while the women’s quartet of Stacy-Ann Williams, Junelle Bromfield, Tiffany James-Rose and Charokee Young won their heat in 3:24.23 to advance to the final at 9:50 p.m, the final event of the championships.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com