by Desmond G. Palmer, posted on 6/26/2009
The Racers Track Club sprint relay team out of Kingston, Jamaica with Antiguan Daniel Bailey and Jamaicans 19-yr-old Yohan Blake, Mario Forsythe and Usain Bolt running in that order, took on two teams from Britain and one each from the USA, Australia, Switzerland and Canada and left them looking at the bottom of their spikes to put an exciting end to the Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace yesterday.
The US, running without Tyson Gay and with Wallace Spearmon on the 2nd leg and Shawn Crawford on third, was second in a distant 38.05 and Britain 3rd in 38.44.
The quartet clocked a scorching 37.46 secs., the fourth fastest time in history behind Jamaica’s 2008 Olympic golden run of 37.10 and two USA times of 37.40 at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games (Carl Lewis on anchor) and the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart.
Drawn in lane 5 with Bailey on lead-off, the Racers took command early. Blake got the batton ahead, then stepped on the gas and opened the gap to give Forsythe a big lead.
Forsythe, the slowest of the four, managed to hold off the charging Crawford to hand over to Bolt, who high-stepped it down the
home straight to the noise of the crowd that included a large number of Jamaicans.
The win was soon soured briefly when the Racers were disqualified for a changeover violation between Bailey and Blake. However, their appeal was upheld and the result reinstate.
Filed Under: Track & Field