A RELAY WITH NO complications is always a relief for U.S. fans, and the men’s 4×4 delivered just that with a dominating United States win in a world-leading 2:57.31, the twelfth time the Americans have won WC gold in the long relay.
In the previous day’s heats, the U.S. had won the first race in 2:58.47, pulling comfortably away from India (2:59.05 NR) and Great Britain (2:59.42) only on the final leg. 400 hurdler Trevor Bassitt led off at 45.45, followed by Matthew Boling (44.16), Christopher Bailey (44.34) and Justin Robinson (44.52).
In heat 2, Jamaica, runner-up the last two Worlds, ran 2:59.82 and France (3:00.05) and Italy (3:00.14) got the remaining auto qualifying spots. The time qualifiers went to Botswana in heat I (2:59.42) and Netherlands in II (3:00.23).
For the final, the United States replaced three-quarters of its team, the coaches clearly not wanting to take any chances.
Leg 1: Quincy Hall, bronze medalist in the open 400, led off from lane 8 and nearly made up the stagger on Britain in lane 9 by the halfway mark. Hall clocked an impressive 44.78 to stay well ahead of India’s Y. Muhammed Anas and French hurdler Ludvy Vaillant.
Leg 2: Veteran Vernon Norwood, 4th in the 400, lengthened the margin with a splendid 43.77 carry. Jamaica and France battled for the second spot on the backstretch, with Britain slipping into 4th. That all changed on the straight when Britain’s Charles Dobson charged past to bring his team into 2nd before the exchange. Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe passed Jamaica and France but at the last second crossed in front of Jamaica, which led to a near-crash at the exchange and the African team’s disqualification.
Leg 3: Justin Robinson, already a gold medalist on the mixed relay, escaped the confusion at the exchange and got off to a great start; he ran a 44.75 to keep the U.S. in the comfort zone. Behind him, the race for medals became more clearly a Britain–France struggle. Jamaica, impeded at the exchange, saw Zandrion Barnes fight to get back into the podium battle.
Anchor: Rai Benjamin, bronze in the 400H in a race he wasn’t happy with, exorcized his frustrations with a brilliant 44.01 that wrapped up the gold-winning 2:57.31.
France’s Teo Andant had enough of a gap to nail down the silver in a national record 2:58.45, and British anchor Rio Mitcham outran Jamaica’s open 400 champ Antonio Watson in the stretch, 2:58.71–2:59.34.
Said U.S. leadoff Hall, “I just wanted to do what I could to get us off to a great start. Running 44.5 out of the blocks is not bad, I guess.”
Norwood admitted, “It’s great to finally get a gold at these championships.”
Robinson confessed, “I wanted to run faster, but we still got the gold, so I’m happy.”
Said Benjamin, “After the 400m hurdles I wanted to come back and anchor this relay. It means a lot that the guys have faith in me and trust me. It is amazing. We did what we needed to do. Quincy had an amazing start and the rest of the boys finished strong. I just had to finish the race. It was teamwork.”
MEN’S 4 x 400 RESULTS
FINAL (August 27)
1. United States 2:57.31 (WL, AL)
(Quincy Hall 44.78, Vernon Norwood 43.77, Justin Robinson 44.75, Rai Benjamin 44.01);
2. France 2:58.45 NR (#10 nation)
(Ludvy Vaillant 45.42, Gilles Biron 44.30, David Sombe 44.66, Teo Andant 44.07);
3. Great Britain 2:58.71
(Alex Haydock-Wilson 45.70, Charlie Dobson 43.75, Lewis Davey 45.37, Rio Mitcham 43.89);
4. Jamaica 2:59.34
(Rusheen McDonald 45.16, Roshawn Clarke 45.12, Zandrion Barnes 44.88, Antonio Watson 44.18);
5. India 2:59.92
(Y. Muhammed Anas 45.45, P.A. Amoj Jacob 45.03, V. Muhammad Ajmal 44.86, Rajesh Ramesh 44.58);
6. Netherlands 3:00.40
(Isayah Boers 46.01, Terrence Agard 43.99, Ramsey Angela 46.05, Isaya Klein Ikkink 44.35);
7. Italy 3:01.23
(Edoardo Scotti 45.72, Riccardo Meli 45.17, Lorenzo Benati 45.34, Davide Re 44.90);
… dq[handoff interference]—[6]Botswana [2:59.94]
(Zibane Ngozi 45.89, Baboloki Thebe 44.13, Laone Ditshetelo 45.37, Leungo Scotch 44.55).
Times & Places At Handoffs
Leg 1: 1. USA 44.78; 2. Jamaica 45.16; 3. France 45.42; 4. India 45.45; 5. Great Britain 45.70; 6. Italy 45.72; 7. Netherlands 46.01.
Leg 2: 1. USA 1:28:55; 2. Great Britain 1:29.45; 3. France 1:29.72; 4. Netherlands 1:30.00; 5. Jamaica 1:30.28; 6. India 1:30.48; 7. Italy 1:30.99.
Leg 3: 1. USA 2:13.30; 2. France 2:14.38; 3. Great Britain 2:14.82; 4. Jamaica 2:15.16; 5. India 2:15.34; 6. Netherlands 2:16.05; 7. Italy 2:16.33.
HEATS (August 26)
I–1. United States 2:58.47 (AL)
(Trevor Bassitt 45.45, Matthew Boling 44.16, Chris Bailey 44.34, Robinson 44.52);
2. India 2:59.05 NR (Anas 45.27, Jacob 44.68, Ajmal 44.17, Ramesh 44.93); 3. Great Britain 2:59.42 (Davey 46.06, Dobson 44.42, Mitcham 44.41, Haydock-Wilson 44.53); 4. Botswana 2:59.42 (Ngozi 45.88, Thebe 44.42, Ditshetelo 44.75, Scotch 44.37);
5. Japan 3:00.39 (Naohiro Jinushi, Fuga Sato 44.38, Kentaro Sato, Yuki Joseph Nakajima 44.70); 6. Czechia 3:00.99 NR (Matěj Krsek, Pavel Maslák, Vít Müller, Patrik Šorm 44.49); 7. Trinidad 3:01.54 (Rennie Quow, Asa Guevara 44.42, Shakeem McKay, Jereem Richards); 8. Spain 3:02.64 (Iñaki Cañal, Samuel García, Bernat Erta, Óscar Husillos); 9. Hungary 3:02.65 NR (Ernő Steigerwald, Zoltán Wahl, Árpád Kovács, Attila Molnár).
II–1. Jamaica 2:59.82 (McDonald 44.71, Jevaughn Powell 45.01, Barnes 44.64, D’Andre Anderson 45.46); 2. France 3:00.05 (Vaillant 45.80, Loïc Prévôt 45.37, Sombe 44.50, Andant 44.38); 3. Italy 3:00.14 (Re, Scotti, Benati, Alessandro Sibilio 44.61); 4. Netherlands 3:00.23 (Liemarvin Bonevacia, Agard 44.63, Angela, Ikkink);
5. Belgium 3:00.33 (Julien Watrin, Dylan Borlée, Robin Vanderbemden, Alexander Doom 44.42); 6. Germany 3:00.67 (Jean Paul Bredau, Marvin Schlegel, Marc Koch, Manuel Sanders 44.51); 7. Kenya 3:01.41 (Kenneddy Kimeu, Ekwom Zablon 44.77, Kelvin Sawe, Wycliffe Kinyamal); 8. Sri Lanka 3:03.25 (S.P. Aruna Darshana, Rajitha Niranjan Rajakaruna, Pabasara Niku, H.K. Kalinga Kumarage).
