The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

LONDON, England — One day after getting disqualified with a false start in the semifinal of the men’s 200 metres, Michael Mathieu joined Ramon Miller, Demetrius Pinder and Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown in qualifying for the final of the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay tonight. Now all four men can get a chance to team up to win a medal that has eluded them in their individual events at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The team, running in order of Miller, Pinder, Mathieu and Brown, had to hold off the United States-minus LaShawn Merritt team. Brown and Bryshon Nellum of the US came across the finish line on their respective anchor legs in the same time of two minutes and 58.87 seconds, both season bests and the fastest times posted for the year. But the Bahamas was awarded the first place and will go into the final as the No.1 seed. Instead of eight teams, nine teams will contest the event after the Jury of Appeal awarded the South African team a spot in lane one.

In their heat (one), there was a collision between the second runner from South Africa and Kenya coming off the final curve. While the Kenyan runner eventually got up and completed the event, the South African had to be assisted off the track by the medical staff. It’s an unusual decision made to bump the line-up to nine. But whether or not it’s unfair to Kenya, who seemed to have been penalised for the infraction, the showdown should still be between the Bahamas and the United States just like they did in the prelude during the heats that saw Jamaica fail to complete the race after Jermaine Gonzales pulled up on the back stretch on the third leg.

Comparing the two countries, the Bahamas got a lead off split of 45.7 for Miller and Manteo Mitchell did 46.1. Pinder’s split of 43.7 was the fastest for the Bahamas as he out-distanced Joshua Mance’s 44.6. Mathieu ran 44.78, but Tony McQuay ran the American fastest leg of 43.65 as he reeled him in. And Brown closed it out with 44.58 to Nellum’s 44.37 as they came through in the photo finish.

It was a performance that left the quartet and the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) executives on hand in the mixed zone quite thrilled about tonight’s final.

“That was what we were planning on doing and that is what we did,” said Mathieu, who was the first member of the team to come through the mixed zone tunnel, a different feeling from the day before when he avoided the media after his false start in the 200. “Everything was good overall. I think we will have to run a bit quicker if we want to get a medal.”

Mathieu, in particular, needed to be quicker because after he got the baton from Pinder with a considerable lead, he was caught by American Tony McQuay on the home stretch as they battled it in to the anchor leg runners. Mathieu, however, was able to exert some of that extra energy to give the baton off to Brown with a slight lead again.

“He’s pretty good. He ran 44.4 already for the year, so I knew that he was going to be up there with me,” said Mathieu, whose concentration this year was pretty much on the 200. “But I was just trying to hold off my leg as best as I could because it’s been months since my last 400 metres. But it was good overall.”

If there is any concern about his fitness level, considering the fact that he skipped the Nationals last month, Mathieu said he’s feeling fine and ready to run faster in the final.

“My plan is to try and hold it down,” said Mathieu, who hopes to redeem himself after his disappointing false start.

On the anchor leg, Brown got out, but on the back stretch Nellum made a race out of it. As they went around the track, Brown kept his composure and the lead. But going into the home stretch, Nellum made another attack and he was able to go neck and neck with Brown right to the tape. “I knew all of my team-mates were in shape to run and I had no doubt that they were going to go out there and execute to the fullest of their abilities,” said Brown, who has anchored so many of the Bahamas’ teams, including the one that won the silver medal at the last Olympics in Beijing, China in 2008 behind the US, anchored by Merritt.

“We did what we needed to do, which was to secure a good lane in the final. We’re hoping that tomorrow (today) we draw a really good lane and come back and execute and run a national record or season’s best again. We’re all in good shape, so we’re just looking forward to tomorrow (today).”

Back after missing out on a chance to win a medal in the men’s 400 metres with his fourth place finish, Brown said he wasn’t concerned about Nellum because he knows there’s still the final ahead of him.

“I know I wasn’t trying to press it because I know tomorrow (today), I definitely have to come with 100 per cent,” he said. “I saw my guys had it secure, so I just wanted to go out there and finish execute the race and that was what I did.”

Brown, the 32-year-old veteran, said he felt Nellum coming around the 150 mark, but he didn’t want to exert too much energy to hold him off, so he just coasted it in to hold on for the win.

“For him, he might have been all out, but I was just taking it easy,” Brown said. “I know my team-mates are going to lead me into the final and I didn’t want to kill myself, so I just wanted to preserve and bring on in.”

The best leg certainly came from Pinder on the second leg. He too came out with vengeance in his eyes after his seventh place finish in the men’s 400. Once he got the baton from Miller, who came in closely followed by Dane Hyatt from Jamaica, Pinder went into another gear on the back stretch and managed to widen the gap coming down the home stretch to pass the baton off to Mathieu.

“I just wanted to give the baton to my team-mate with the lead. That was all that was going on in my mind,” Pinder said. “I was very comfortable. I was looking around to make sure that I was in a good spot to keep the baton falling or anything like that. It felt great. I was comfortable. So I was happy with the way my team-mates performed today. Thank God.”

Going into the final, Pinder said he has something to prove and he intends to put on a show for the Bahamian public and no doubt the 80,000 cheering fans in the stands.

For Miller, who got the ball rolling as he too regrouped after failing to get out of the semifinal of the 400, it was just a matter of getting the Bahamas off to a fast start.

“I was the first leg, so I had to build the momentum for the team and that was what I did,” Miller said. “It was only the heat. I didn’t want to go too hard and then I didn’t want to go too soft. So I went out there to execute and build the momentum for the guys.”

Miller said he has all the faith in his team-mates and he knows that they have the capability of getting a medal, even the gold, once they execute their plan, which is to get out and avoid any collision with any other runner. He promised to go out, if given the opportunity in the final, to do the same thing all over again.

The team was greeted in the mixed zone by team manager Ralph McKinney, BAAA president Mike Sands and IAAF councilwoman Pauline Davis-Thompson, who has already done some extra special duties, presenting flowers to the winners of the women’s triple jump during their medal presentation.

In tonight’s final, the Bahamas has drawn lane six with the United States ahead of them in seven. Trinidad & Tobago, who won the first heat in a national record of 3:00.38, had the third fastest time and will run out of four.

Host Great Britain is in four with the same time as T&T for their season’s best as well.