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St. Kitts & Nevis Takes Bronze as US Mishap Hampers Trinidad
Going into the 4x1 final of the Daegu World Championships today, Jamaica, minus Usain Bolt in the qualifying round, ran a season best of 38.07secs in heat two behind Trinidad and Tobago (37.91). In the final, Jamaica included Bolt and ran a blistering relay to clock 37.04 secs, a new world record, while injured Asafa Powell, the country’s fastest man this season, may have been looking on from the stands. France was a distant second in 38.02s and another Caribbean island St. Kitts and Nevis third, with super veteran Kim Collins in 38.49s.
It was the only world record in the nine-day competition, which ended with sprint relay, unlike previous World or Olympic Games in which the 4x4 brought the curtain down. The team collected a check for US$100,000 for the record on top of the $80,000 they collect for winning.
The crack squad of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt (in that order) stormed the track from start to finish with speed and a series of smooth baton changes that left the US totally discombobulated. Yet again, the US team of Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Darvis Patton and Walter Dix crashed out at the final change-over in a fall that seriously interfered with Trinidad and Tobago, which ended up trailing down the track in sixth place, while effectively ending the medal hunt of Britain and US.
As the flying Blake in lane six opened the gap and approached Bolt for the change, Patton in lane four, who was on his way to Dix collided into the right shoulder of the British runner Harry Aikins-Aryeetey (lane three) , and impeded Aaron Armstrong of Trinidad. Unperturbed, Bolt stepped down the track with consummate ease to win unchallenged. On crossing the line at full throttle, Bolt realized the flash time was less than the team’s 2008 37.10 world record; he threw the baton into the air, spread his arms almost as wide as a gliding albatross and continued on the track to meet the lead-off man Carter.
It was Bolt’s first foray as an anchor leg runner in major competition.
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