The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Months of preparation are finally complete and Team Bahamas is ready to thrill the home crowd when the second edition of the IAAF/BTC World Relays gets underway today at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium.

Team Bahamas will be led by head coach Rupert Gardiner for the second consecutive year.

“I feel like we can be stronger than last year. You get a lot of kinks out the system by the time the second year rolls around,” he said. “We’re shaping up good. Everybody is in good spirits, everybody is in shape, the junior athletes have been competing often, the college athletes are coming from their respective meets and the professional athletes have been running all year.”

The men’s 4x400m team is the flagship team of the Bahamas squad, and Gardiner said there is optimism surrounding the women’s 4x200m team.

The team includes Shaunae Miller, Anthonique Strachan, Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson, Lanece Clarke and junior athletes Adanaca Brown and Brianna Bethel.

“We finished last off the medal podium last year and we are pretty sure we can finish in the top three and we have the team to do it,” he said.

Last year, the team of Ferguson, Strachan, Nivea Smith and Cache Armbrister ran a national record of 1:31.31 for fourth place behind the United States (championship record of 1:29.45), Great Britain (national record of 1:29.61) and Jamaica (national record of 1:30.04).

As for the 4x400m team, with Demetrius Pinder moving down to the 4x100m, expect to see a slightly altered version of the “Golden Knights.”

Last year the Golden Knights were without Ramon Miller and now the team will be made up of Miller, Chris Brown, Latoy Williams, Michael Mathieu, Steven Gardiner and Alonzo Russell.

“There are going to be some changes and some surprises, we have our young boys that have been performing even better than some of the Golden Knights so it’s just a changing of the guard,” Gardiner said, “Our junior athletes have run some fast times, we said the fastest times will be in the pool and they earned it.”

The Bahamas has fielded a 30-member team for this year’s event.

Last year, the Bahamas’ 28-member team finished eighth on the 43-country points chart with 15.0 as the United States dominated, carting off the Golden Baton as the top country with 60. Jamaica, who set a world record in the 4 x 200m without Usain Bolt, but with Yohan Blake, got second with 41.0 and Kenya got third with 35.

“Everybody is ready to go. All we have to do (as a coaching staff) is put our heads together and hopefully when we go out there, we will do very well this weekend.”

“We just have to watch each athlete and their mindset and who is ready to go and we will put the best four out there,” he said.

“When you see us put our four out there, they will be the best four that the Bahamas can put together. We selected the best six athletes based on their times leading up to the Relays, so I think we have the best athletes here representing us.”

Said BAAA President Mike Sands: ”Our expectations are as high as they can be. We are looking forward to great performances and we stand ready as Team Bahamas to support the effort of Team Bahamas.”

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson said: ”We want to congratulate everyone here. We know the work you do and we know you are extremely eager to get going.”