by Stuart Weir
Team GB report
Participation in the World Relays would have to be deemed a success for team GB. The main object of the exercise was to qualify all 5 relay teams for the World Championships in Tokyo in September. The outcome was “mission accomplished”. It is said that school teachers in Britain who cannot think what to write on a student report card, write “could do better”. My assessment of Team GB is satisfactory but could have done better. Relay medals are important to us; we collected 5 at the Paris Olympics.
There were two medals. Gold in the women’s 4 by 100 was a great achievement. The US team included Mikiah Brisco, Kayla White and Twanisha Terry but they were only 4th. Jamaica had Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price and Shericka Jackson but they were only third. Britain is strong in women’s sprint but Darryl Neita, Dina Asher-Smith and Imani Lansiquot from the Olympic medaling team were absent.
Bianca Williams on second leg is a solid experienced runner who never lets anyone down. Amy Hunt on third leg has already competed in the European Indoors, World Indoors and two Diamond Leagues this year and she is getting better and better. She is, of course, listed for Doha next weekend! But the selectors trusted two 20 year-olds to start and finish the race, both making their senior international debut, Nia Wedderburn-Goodison and Success Eduan. Asha Philip, serial relay medalist, always on first leg, who had been in the team in the prelim, was switched to the mixed Sprint for the final
Wedderburn-Goodison seemed to take it all in her stride commenting afterwards: “I didn’t even know what was going on as we were lane eight so I don’t know what was happening behind me. I was gritting my teeth and said to myself go, go, go! I saw Amy and passed it to her, I was so relieved to get the baton out my hand. Then I got to watch everyone, I saw Amy run a great leg, Bianca run a great leg then Success ran people down! I was happy! It means a lot, I have come up with Success from Under 13 level, racing each other and now we are roommates and we have won a gold medal, it is just insane”.
Success Eduan – who certainly lived up to her name – was unfazed by what was happening: “I did not think too much about other athletes, I just knew that if I gave all myself, it would come out all right. I have the mentality of a winner, I don’t care if it is Shericka or Shelly-Ann, respect to them, but I am going to give my all and I’m going to pass them and I’m going to win. And we did that!”
The mixed 4 by 100 team took bronze behind Canada and Jamaica with a team of youth and experience Asha Philip (34), Kissiwaa Mensah (19), Jeriel Quainoo (22) and Joe Ferguson (25).
Asha Philip, who had been omitted from the Olympic team last year, but who ran the heat of the women’s and the final of the mixed said: “We are absolutely delighted with what we achieved tonight, it’s the first time we come out here for this event and came here for a medal. Expectation was high, we came here to compete at our best. Coming third, for the first time ever, this team is amazing, and it ended up absolutely great. The baby of the team, Mensah, said: “I felt like the exchange was as planned. From yesterday’s relay we could really proved that we could do perfectly, we came here, capable of our best performance.
The men’s sprint relay failed to get the baton round with a problem on the final changeover. Jona Efoloko reflected post race; “Of course we are feeling disappointed. We know we’re better than that. Unfortunately, things happen, it’s part of the game. We will look at it, regroup, learn from it and we will go again. The main thing is we qualified for Tokyo, which was the goal. Then we’ll get it right. Come September, we’ll be ready.”
In the 4X400s the inexperienced men’s team – no Matt Hudson-Smith or Alex Haydock-Wilson – could only finish sixth. The women who had failed to reach the final, ran in the repechage and secured qualification for Tokyo. A relatively inexperienced mixed 4 by 400 came fourth.
