The men and women sprint, and mile relay are perennial favorites at international track and field events, and Saturday was no exception at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, as the Caribbean represented by Jamaica won medals in each of the four relays.
The women quartet of Christine Day, 400m silver medalist Anastasia Le-Roy, 400m hurdles champion Janieve Russell and 400m bronze medalist Stephenie-Ann McPherson, won the 4x 400m relay finals in 3:24.00 over Nigeria, 3:25.29 and Botswana, 3:26.86.
In the men’s 4 x 400 relay finals, Jermaine Gayle, Demish Gaye, Jamari Rose and Javon Francis won bronze in a time of 3:01.97, behind Botswana, 3:01.78 and The Bahamas, 3:01.92, in a close and exciting finish.
In the women sprint relay Jamaica won the silver medal with the team of Christania Williams, the 100m silver medal winner, Natasha Morrison, Gayon Evans and Elaine Thompson, in a time of 42.52. Despite a strong last leg by Thompson Jamaica was unable to overcome the women from England who won in 42.46, with Nigeria, 42.75 taking the bronze medal.
The men’s 4x100m relay team (Everton Clarke, Oshane Bailey, Warren Weir, Yohan Blake), 38.38, finished third behind England, 38.13 and South Africa, 38.24.
Guyana won a gold medal when Troy Doris won the men’s triple jump final with a leap of 16.88m.
Jamaican women netballers suffered a heartbreak defeat in one of the semi-final matches, losing to England 56-55. Jamaica progressed to play New Zealand for the bronze medal.
With Jamaica adding four medals on Saturday, the country recorded 26 medals, it’s highest medal haul in the Commonwealth Games, by- passing the 24 medals gained in the 2006 and 2014 Games.
