The Tribune

FOR the first time in history, a Bahamas women’s 4 x 400 relay team has qualified for the IAAF World Championships - the 14th edition is set to be held in Russia August 10-18.

The quartet of Christine Amertil, Lanece Clarke, Cottrell Martin and Amara Jones posted a time of 3:20.90 - the qualifying time for the IAAF Worlds is 3:33.00.

Their history-making feat came during a special segment of the Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, on Saturday, April 27, when the team finished sixth.

Amertil ran the first leg in the fastest split of 52.7 seconds, while Jones clocked 52.9, Martin did 53.4 and Clarke 53.9.

So far, the only team that hasn’t qualified is the men’s 4 x 100 but relay coordinator Henry Rolle is aiming to have all four relay teams represent the Bahamas in Moscow.

“We’re about 75 per cent complete. The men’s 4 x 100 team is a young team. They’re all juniors. We have some work to do with them, but the aim is to get all four teams qualified and we’re not too far off from achieving that goal,” he said.

In addition, Rolle said, all of the athletes will have a chance to make their respective relay teams based on their times at the trials.

“It’s a situation where those who have ran to help the team qualify will have to keep themselves healthy and running well in order to qualify for the team because it’s an open gate where all of the athletes who run well at the trials will be able to qualify for the team,” he added.