|
 Nickel Ashmeade, Rasheed Dwyer, Jason Livermore and Warren Weir
survived a shaky second exchange baton pass to claim the feature
race in one minute, 20.97 seconds.
But at least the Jamaicans, in winning their first race of the
two-day meeting, got the baton around.
The Americans were not so fortunate. A muffed passed between Isiah
Young and Curtis Mitchell on the second exchange sent the baton
flying, leading to their disqualification.
Bolt did not run as a precaution, his manager said, after the
world's fastest man felt tightness in his hamstring warming up.
Second place went to France and Germany claimed third.
Justin Gatlin, not realizing the U.S. had dropped the baton, still
ran a blazing anchor leg to bring the Americans from seventh to
third before their disqualification was announced.
The U.S., with Gatlin running a strong second leg, had beaten a
Bolt-anchored team in the men's 4x100 on Saturday.
The two rivals are not expected to meet in a sprint showdown before
August's world championships in Beijing.
Jamaica's women added to the island nation's delight with a
come-from-behind win over the U.S. in their 4x100.
Twice Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown ran down U.S. anchor
Carmelita Jeter to bring the Jamaicans home in 42.14 seconds, ahead
of the Americans (42.32).
Britain took third ahead of Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil,
Nigeria and Switzerland.
All eight teams won automatic qualifying berths for the 2016
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Americans swept the other three finals, the men's distance medley
and women's 4x400 and 4x800 relays.
The most important was the women's 4x400, where Olympic berths were
also at stake.
[to top of second column] |
Phyllis Francis, Natasha Hastings, Sanya Richards-Ross and Francena
McCorory assured the Americans would be in Rio with their run of
3:19.39.
Jamaica were second and Britain held off France for third.
Poland, Canada, Australia and Brazil also qualified for the
Olympics.
Kyle Merber, Brycen Spratling, Brandon Johnson and Ben Blankenship
combined for a world record 9:15.50 for the U.S. in the infrequently
held men's distance medley, which consists of legs of 1,200, 400,
800 and 1,600 meters.
Kenya took second and Australia were third.
The U.S. women were victorious in 8:00.62 in the 4x800, beating
Poland and Australia.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by
Nick Mulvenney)
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