Trinidad and Tobago produced a sizzling run in the men’s 4x400 metres final, at the IAAF World Relays, here in Nassau, Bahamas, late yesterday.
Lalonde Gordon, Renny Quow, Machel Cedenio and Jarrin Solomon captured bronze at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, establishing a new national record in the process--two minutes, 58.34 seconds.
Gordon put T&T in pole position with a strong leadoff leg. Quow was impressive too, and when Cedenio got the baton he was second, marginally behind Bahamas’ Chris Brown.
Solomon also received the baton second, but LaShawn Merritt was right on his shoulder. The American moved past the T&T anchor with about 150 metres to go.
The urgings of a 15,000-strong crowd were not enough to propel Bahamian Michael Mathieu over the line ahead of Merritt, the world champion overhauling his fellow-anchor to hand United States gold in 2:57.25. Bahamas clocked 2:57.59 to take silver.
After press time, last night, T&T hunted precious metal in the men’s 4x100m event.
Running in heat one in the qualifying round, Keston Bledman, Marc Burns, Rondel Sorrillo and Richard "Torpedo" Thompson combined for a 38.09 seconds clocking—good enough for second spot and an automatic berth in last night’s championship race.
Great Britain finished first in heat one in 37.93.
Jamaica went into the final as the fastest qualifiers, the northern Caribbean team clocking 37.71 seconds. Great Britain and T&T were second and third fastest, respectively.
In the women’s 4x400m “B” final, Shawna Fermin, Alena Brooks, Magnolia Howell and Romona Modeste produced a 3:33.21 effort to finish fourth.
Australia emerged victorious in 3:31.01, forcing Bahamas (3:31.71) to settle for the runner-up spot. Canada (3:32.58) finished third.
In the “A” final, the Americans grabbed gold in 3:21.73, while silver went to Jamaica (3:23.26) and bronze to Nigeria (3:23.41).
T&T were non-finishers in the women’s 4x200m and 4x800m events.
In the 4x2, the first exchange, between Michelle-Lee Ahye and Reyare Thomas, was never completed, and Kai Selvon and Kamaria Durant were left stranded.
United States (1:29.45), Great Britain (1:29.61) and Jamaica (1:30.04) earned gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
Jessica James ran the opening leg for T&T in the 4x800m, and at the end of her two laps she trailed the field.
Fermin was charged with second leg duties, but was unable to complete her assignment. Her injury did not seem serious, but the discomfort was sufficient for Fermin to abort her run.
Neither Brooks nor Modeste got the opportunity to break a sweat.
United States were golden in the event in 8:01.58. Kenya clocked 8:04.28 to secure silver, while bronze was bagged by the Russians in 8:08.19.