The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE their third place finish in the B final of the men’s 4 x 100 metres, a bizarre occurrence in the A final resulted in the Bahamas being elevated to the eighth spot and a trip to the IAAF World Championships in London, England in August.

Day one of the IAAF/BTC World Relays, however, closed out on Saturday night at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium with both the Bahamas men and women 4x400m relay teams failing to advance to the finals in what were two unpredictable showings.

There was much celebrations in the United States of America as their men’s 4 x 100m team finished their early run for a third consecutive Golden Baton champions of the meet as Justin Gatlin sped home well ahead of the field on anchor for the win in 38.43 seconds.

Barbados moved up for the silver in their season’s best of 39.18 and the People’s Republic of China got the bronze in 39.22.

Great Britain, the Netherlands and Canada, featuring Olympic star Andre de Grasse, all failed to finish as they experienced the same fate as Jamaica, with former world champion Yohan Blake, on anchor in the heats as they failed to advance to the final.

With their disqualification, Trinidad & Tobago, Germany and the Bahamas, the top three finishers in that order in the B final, moved up to secure the remaining eight spots for London. The top eight teams in both the 4 x 1 and 4 x 4 for men and women will book their tickets to the World Championships from the championships.

In their B final race, the Bahamas held a slight lead going into the final leg. But on the home stretch, Adrian Griffith was caught in the closing metres by Trinidad & Tobago and Germany. Griffith, joined by Warren Fraser, Shavez Hart and Cliff Resias, ended up third in a season’s best of 39.18 seconds as Trinidad & Tobago surged to the front for victory in 39.04 chased by Germany in 39.18, a season’s best as well.

The same quartet of Fraser, Hart, Resias and Griffith ran 39.36sec for fourth in their heat and 10th overall. But they had their share of problems as well as the exchange between Hart and Resias was not that smooth and it cost the Bahamas the lead.

“It’s something that we will have to work on,” said Fraser about the team’s performance in the B final. “We definitely have a lot of work to do if we want to go to London.”

It wasn’t the same for happy ending for the men and women 4x400m teams as they both failed to make the final and guaranteed their trip to London.

The women’s race saw Olympic gold medallist Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran a superb opening leg. Running in lane seven in the second of three heats, powered past Canadian Carline Muir in the first 200m and gave the rest of the team what seemed like an insurmountable lead.

But that wasn’t enough as Anthonique Strachan held on to it on the second leg, but coming into the exchange, the Bahamas dropped into second. The Bahamas continued to lag as veteran Christine Amertil made her way around the track.

On the final exchange to rookie Rashan Brown, the Bahamas eventually faded into fourth coming onto the home stretch. Their time of 3min 34.40sec was good for 11th overall and out of the final.

In the men’s race, world 400m leader Steven Gardiner an exceptional anchor leg, coming from fifth place to push the Bahamas; team that included Michael Mathieu (lead off), Demetrius Pinder (second) and Andretti Bain (third) into third in

a season’s best of 3min 05.37sec and ninth overall as they missed the final spot to get into the final.

The Bahamas men’s team will run in lane four in Sunday’s B final and the women’s team will be in lane five in their B final.

In the first final of the two-day competition, the women’s 4x800m, the Americans led from start to finish to take the title in 8min 16.36sec for a season’s best to share the top prize of $50,000 after taking their victory lap.

Belarus had to settle for the silver in 8:20.07 and Australia picked up the bronze in 8:21.08.

After that performance, the Jamaican 4x200m team anchored by Olympic double sprint champion Elaine Thompson got their fans in a frenzy as they celebrated from start to finish in smashing the championship record in a new time of 1min 29.04sec.

The United States finished the day on top of the standings with 22 points, double the tally of their nearest rivals, Australia. Jamaica is in third with eight with Germany, Barbados and Belarus tied for fourth with seven and the People’s Republic of China and France in eighth, both with seven points as well.