| New Haven native Jared Connaughton takes the baton from Canadian teammate Oluseyi Smith while Jamaica’s Michael Frater hands his baton over to Usain Bolt at the start of the third leg of the men’s 4x100-metre relay final Saturday during the world track and field championships in Berlin. (Associated Press photo) | ||
Relay team misses medal
Connaughton and teammates run
a seasonal best time in 4x100
a seasonal best time in 4x100
Canwest News Service & The Associated Press
The Canadian 4x100 men’s relay team set a seasonal best time on Saturday at the world track and field championships in Berlin, but it wasn’t good enough to see the team head home with a medal.
The Canadian team, which includes Jared Connaughton of New Haven, finished the race in 38.39 seconds to grab fifth place overall.
The race was won by Jamaica — led by multi-world-record holder Usain Bolt. Jamaica cruised to the gold in 37.31 seconds. Trinidad and Tobago finished second with a time of 37.62, while Great Britain won bronze by finishing in 38.02.
The Canadian team also featured Sam Effah of Calgary, Oluseyi Smith of Ottawa, and anchor Bryan Barnett of Edmonton.
“To tell the truth, we were shooting for the podium,” said Barnett. “The last exchange could have been quicker . . . a season best though so you can’t complain too much, I guess.”
“There’s plenty of room to improve,” added Connaughton. “But 38.39, we’ll take it for now, but I think this is a 37 (second) team and I don’t think we could have said that two years ago.”
Jamaica also won the women’s 4x100 final on Saturday.
Bolt’s third gold medal of the championships failed to produce a third world record because the Jamaican 400-metre relay team only managed to produce the second-fastest time in history.
“It is a little bit my fault,” an apologetic Bolt said, complaining he was just too tired after nine races in eight days.
“I didn’t run the best third leg. I was happy to get around the track and give the baton to Asafa,” he said. “I am dying right now.”
Compounding Bolt’s fatigue was Asafa Powell’s groin injury, which made the anchor runner uncertain until one hour before the start.
Since the Beijing Olympics, Bolt had won five major gold medals with a world record each time. The world record streak ended in the 400 relay after he set two individual marks in Berlin.
“The main thing that counted was getting the gold,” Bolt said.
No comments:
Post a Comment