The Debswana World Athletics Relays kicked off its opening rounds of 4x400m competition in Gaborone, Botswana on Saturday, and Jamaica’s top men’s and women’s relay units both left themselves with work to do heading into Sunday’s decisive final day of action. Both squads finished fifth in their respective opening heats, missing out on the automatic qualification spots that went to the top two teams in each opening round group.
In the men’s competition, the Jamaican foursome made up of Assinie Wilson, Jevaughn Powell, Jeremy Bembridge and Reheem Hayles struggled to match the pace of leading competitors, crossing the finish line with a time of 3:00.48. The heat was dominated by Australia, who claimed the top automatic spot with a blistering new national record time of 2:57.30. Host nation Botswana secured the second automatic qualification spot with a solid time of 2:57.52, leaving Jamaica well adrift of the qualifying positions.
Before the men’s heat got underway, Jamaica’s women’s team featuring Andrenette Knight, Leah Anderson, Janielle Josephs and Shiann Salmon was also unable to mount a serious challenge for a top-two finish. The squad faded in the later stages of the race to end up in fifth place, posting a final time of 3:27.19. Spain claimed first place in the heat with a winning time of 3:24.44, while Czechia took the second automatic qualifying spot with a time of 3:25.42.
Despite their underwhelming opening round performances, both Jamaican relay squads will get a second chance on Sunday to punch their tickets to two upcoming major global championships. The top finishers at the World Athletics Relays will earn qualification to both the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, scheduled to take place in Budapest, Hungary this coming September, and the 2027 World Athletics Championships set to be hosted in Beijing.