BUDAPEST STARTED WITH a bang for Team USA as the quartet of Ronnie Baker, Anavia Battle, Courtney Lindsey, and Kayla White sped to a 39.64 AR.
The mixed 4×1 is an event in its infancy and by this time next year most of the important records are likely to be considerably faster but on a cool, damp night it was still an impressive performance: the second-fastest time ever and just 0.02 off the still-to-be ratified WR set by Jamaica at the World Relays back at the start of May.
Baker, with the U.S. drawn in the less-than-favorable lane 9, was surprisingly slow to react to the gun but recovered super-quickly. He sped around the first bend, handing over just in front of the Jamaica lead-off leg, Ackeem Blake.
“I was just locked in from the moment I made it to the warmup track. I knew my job and I felt I got it done really, really well. Just stay in front and don’t let anybody be coming up close to you,” reflected the ’15 and ‘16 NCAA indoor 60 champion.
Battle, running her first-ever mixed relay, then kept Jamaica’s Tina Clayton, 3 lanes to her inside, at bay and maintained the slender U.S. half-meter lead down the back straight.
However, a poor change between Clayton and Kadrian Goldson opened the door for Courtney Lindsey to put more daylight between the two teams.
The stats later showed that Lindsey had a 0.16 lead at the final changeover — 29.64 to 29.80 — and that Jamaica’s Jonielle Smith halved that deficit by the time Kayla White reached the finish line, but better handovers won the day and the $80,000 winners’ check.
Jamaica took 2nd in 39.72 while European champions Great Britain were a distant 3rd in 40.26, just edging out Canada for a place on the theoretical but, in reality, non-existent podium.
Instead, each of the winning team members got an impressive trophy to take home.
Baker added: “It’s really exciting to be the first ever [Ultimate champion] at this inaugural event, it’s really cool. This event is a really good one and I hope it stays around. This trophy is pretty heavy, it’s definitely worth a showcase in the house… although I’ve got kids so it’s gonna have to be put pretty high.”
On the evidence displayed in the Hungarian capital you might have thought that the U.S. foursome had done plenty of hard work behind-the-scenes in getting the baton from one to another.
However, Battle confessed that wasn’t quite the case. “It takes a lot of trust, but it didn’t take a lot of practice. We just put it together and made it work. We just had a good chemistry on the track, all of us.”
With the expected challenges in passing the baton in the mixed 4 x 100 from male-to-female, mainly relating to differing physiques and speed, perhaps Team USA rode their luck a little.
Nevertheless, it was a crowd-pleasing and record-breaking start to proceedings on the Ultimate stage.
UC MIXED 4 x 100 RESULTS
September 11
1. United States 39.64 AR (old AR 40.33 National Team ’26) (2, 2 W) (Ronnie Baker 10.44, Anavia Battle 10.00, Courtney Lindsey 9.20, Kayla White 10.00)
2. Jamaica 39.72 (x, 3 W)
(Ackeem Blake 10.53, Tina Clayton 9.99, Kadrian Goldson 9.38, Jonielle Smith 9.92)
3. Great Britain 40.26
(Romell Glave 10.55, Imani-Lara Lansiquot 10.19, Jeremiah Azu 9.38, Success Eduan 10.14)
4. Canada 40.34
(Eliezer Adjibi 10.66, Audrey Leduc 10.12, Brendon Rodney 9.47, Sade McCreath 10.09)
5. Spain 40.65
(Guillem Crespi 10.72, Maria Isabel Pérez 10.94, Andoni Calbano 9.55, Jael Bestue 10.14)
6. Germany 40.85
(Kevin Kranz 10.69, Jolina Ernst 10.36, Robin Ganter 9.53, Sina Kammerschmitt 10.27)
7. Hungary 41.21
(Krisztián Kalics 10.87, Boglárka Takács 10.12, Dominik Pázmándi 9.71, Zita Szentgyörgyi 10.51)
8. Netherlands 41.31
(Elvis Afrifa 10.82, Britt De Blaauw 10.63, Xavi Mo-Ajok 9.42, Fenna Achterberg 10.44).
