Saturday’s final day of the 2024 World Athletics Under-20 Championships was a productive one for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay as both the female and male quartets claimed gold medals.

The women combined to run a season’s best 43.39 to win gold ahead of Switzerland (44.06) and Canada (44.60).

200m bronze medallist Shanoya Douglas ran the first leg before handing off to Alliah Baker. Baker ran a solid leg before handing off to Briana Campbell who then gave the baton to individual 100m champion Alana Reid who then brought it home.

The men’s race was as exciting as they come with Deandre Daley producing a brilliant anchor leg to secure gold for Jamaica in 39.18 ahead of Great Britain (39.20) and Thailand (39.39).

Jamaica were on the back foot early after the opening leg from Jace Witter before the second and third legs from Gary Card and Nyrone Wade, respectively, meant that Daley got the baton in fourth and in striking distance of the top three.

Similar to what he did at the 2023 Carifta Games in Nassau, Daley then produced an excellent anchor leg comeback to secure the gold for Jamaica.

Elsewhere, Jamaica’s Shaiquan Dunn threw 59.79m for seventh in the final of the men’s discus. The USA’s Bryce Ruland took gold with a personal best 62.59m ahead of The Netherlands’ Jarno Van Daalen (62.22m) and Finland’s Mico Lampinen (62.20).

The USVI’s Michelle Smith narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s 400m hurdles final, finishing fourth in 57.21. France’s Meta Tumba took gold in a national under-20 record 55.59. Poland’s Wiktoria Gadajska ran a national under-20 record 56.87 in second while South Africa’s Hannah Van Niekerk was third in a personal best 56.98.

Jamaica’s female and male quartets both looked mightily impressive in the heats of the 4x100m relays on day four of the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru on Friday.

The female team comprising Sabrina Dockery, Alliah Baker, Briana Campbell and Alana Reid first combined to easily win their heat in 43.81, the fastest time in qualifying.

Puerto Rico, who ran a national Under-20 record 45.28 in second in that heat, also made it through to Saturday’s final.

On the men’s side, the team of Jace Witter, Gary Card, Nyrone Wade and Deandre Daley won their heat in 39.54, also the fastest time in the heats.

Trinidad & Tobago’s team of Che Jean-Marc Wickham, Kadeem Chinapoo, Hakeem Chinapoo and Dylan Woodruff will also be in the final after combining to run 39.77 to finish second behind the Jamaicans in heat four.

Jamaica’s women also advanced to the final of the Women’s 4x400m. Abrina Wright, Shanque Williams, Anecia Campbell and Nastassia Fletcher combined to run 3:38.04 to finish second in their heat behind Colombia who won in 3:38.01.

In the field, Jamaica’s Shaiquan Dunn threw 57.82m to advance to the final of the men’s discus.

Jamaica’s men booked a spot in the final of the Men’s 4x100m relay on day one of the World Athletics Relays at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in Nassau on Saturday.

Jamaica’s quartet of Bryan Levell, Kadrian Goldson, Ryiem Forde and Sandrey Davison combined to run 38.50 to finish second in the third heat behind Canada who ran 38.11 to win.

Both teams also booked spots at the Olympics in Paris later this year.

The USA (37.49), Japan (38.10), Italy (38.14), China (38.25), France (38.32) and Great Britain (38.36) also made it through to the final.

Jamaica’s women, on the other hand, failed to advance to the final after finishing fifth in their heat.

The quartet of Jodean Williams, Tia Clayton, Alana Reid and Remona Burchell combined to run 43.33.

Excelsior High emerged victorious in the Championship of America High School Boys 4x100m on the third and final day at the 128^th Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Their quartet of Ryeem Walker, Damor Miller, Malike Nugent and Lennon Green combined to run 40.45 to secure the school’s first win in the event since 1967.

Kingston College (Daniel Clarke, Yourie Lawrence-Clarke, Nyrone Wade, Marcinho Rose) were second in 40.53 and Herbert Morrison (Ky-Mani Hemmings, Tavaine Stewart, Chance Segree, De Andre Daley) completed a Jamaican 1-2-3 with 40.56 in third.

Hydel High, Wolmer’s Girls, St. Jago High, Edwin Allen High, Holmwood Technical and St. Mary High all secured spots in the Championship of America High School Girls 4x100m final on day one of the 2024 Penn Relays at franklin Field in Philadelphia.

Hydel’s team of Alliah Baker, Shania Myers, Shemonique Hazle and Juwonna Whitehorne combined to run 45.99 to win heat 13 and advance with the fastest time overall.

Holmwood Technical (Regina Bailey, Kiara Meikle, Sadeena Holder, Monique Proudlove) combined to run 46.38 and advance as winners of the ninth heat ahead of St. Mary High (Akeeliah Barnes, Kaliesha Bell, Shagay Sheppy, Tianna Rhoomes) who also made it through with 46.46.

St. Jago High (Rae-Annia Williams, Kryshell Hoolong, Seanagaye Leslie, Tamara Bailey) with 46.55, Edwin Allen (Trezeguet Taylor, Theianna-Lee Terrelonge, Jounee Armstrong, Shanique Cassanova) with 46.59 and Wolmer’s Girls (Mikayla Gardner, Tianna Marshall, Natrece East, Abigayle Wolfe) with 46.72 will also be in Friday’s final.

Hydel are defending champions in the event.

St. Lucian star sprinter Julien Alfred opened her 2024 outdoor season with a pair of victories at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, California on Saturday.

The 2023 Bowerman Award winner first produced 22.58 to win the 200m ahead of training partners Rhasidat Adeleke (22.61) and 2019 World champion Dina Asher-Smith (22.80).

Alfred then returned to team up with Adeleke, Asher-Smith and Lanae Tava-Thomas and win the women’s elite 4x100m relay in 42.03 ahead of Formula Kersee (Keni Harrison, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Jenna Prandini, Morolake Akinosun) who ran 42.93 and the Ivory Coast who ran 43.17.

In the field, Jamaican Ralford Mullings threw 64.43m to win the men’s discus ahead of Turner Washington (63.64m) and Jordan Roach (61.45m).

Olympic champions Steven Gardiner and Shaunae Miller-Uibo were the standout names as the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) has officially confirmed its 27-member team for the World Athletics Relays set for May 4 and 5 at the refurbished Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.

The Bahamas is expected to compete in the Men’s and Women’s 4x100m Relays, the Men’s 4x400m Relay and the Mixed 4x400m Relay.

Newly crowned World Indoor 60m champion and record holder Devynne Charlton was named in a Women’s 4x100m Relay pool which also included Camille Rutherford, Printassia Johnson, Jamiah Nabbie, Shayann Demeritte, Nia Richards, Charisma Taylor and Pedrya Seymour.

The Men’s 4x100m Relay pool consists of Samson Colebrooke, Samalie Farrington, Ian Kerr, Carlos Brown, Deedro Clarke, Blake Bartlett, Jeremiah Adderley and Warren Fraser.

The Men’s 4x400m Relay team includes Gardiner, Alonzo Russell, Wendell Miller, Zion Shepard, Deedro Clarke, Zion Miller, Lhevinne Joseph and Shakeem Hall-Smith. Finally,

The Mixed 4x400m Relay team for The Bahamas will consist of Miller-Ubio, Anthonique Strachan, Lacarthea Cooper, Robynn Rolle-Curry, Steven Gardiner, Alonzo Russell, Wendell Miller and Zion Shepherd.

The Bahamas hosted the World Athletics Relays in 2014, 2015 and 2017.

Jamaica’s men’s 4x100m team secured a bronze medal on day eight of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Saturday.

The quartet of Ackeem Blake, 100m finalists Oblique Seville and Ryiem Forde and 100m semi-finalist Rohan Watson combined to run 37.76.

The USA’s dream team of Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Brandon Carnes and Noah Lyles ran a world leading 37.38 for gold while Olympic champions, Italy, ran 37.62 for silver.

USA, Jamaica, Japan advanced to the final of the 4x100m relay on Friday.

In a keenly contested semi-final heat, the USA team of Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Brendon Barnes and JT Smith, just managed to hold off the Jamaican quartet of Ackeem Blake, Oblique Seville, Ryeim Forde and Rohan Watson to win in a what was briefly a world-leading time 37.67.

It was a blanket finish that saw the Jamaicans close behind in 37.68 and the Japanese foursome of Ryuichiro Sakai, Hiroki Yanagita, Yuki Koike and Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, who were third in 37.71.

That world-leading time by the USA lasted mere minutes as Italy’s team of Roberto Rigali, Lamont Jacobs, Lorenzo Patta and Fillippo Tortu stormed to victory in the second heat in 37.65. South Africa’s team of Shaun Maswangnayi, Benjamin Richardson, Clarence Munyai, and Akani Simbine close behind in 37.72.

Great Britain was third in 38.01.

Brazil who ran 38.19 and France 37.98 are also through to the final.

Hydel High had an excellent final day at the 127^th Penn Relays at the Franklin Field on Saturday.

First, they comfortably won the High School Girls 4x100m title.

National Under 20 100m record holder Alana Reid, Oneika McAnuff, Shemonique Hazle and Alliah Baker combined to run 44.16, more than a second faster than runners up Bullis School (45.59). St. Jago ran 45.98 for third.

The rest of the field was rounded out by McDonogh School (46.57), St. Augustine’s (46.61), Heritage (46.75), South County (46.80) and Wolmer’s Girls (52.32). Defending champions Edwin Allen failed to finish.

Hydel also took top spot in the 4x400m final.

Aaliyah Mullings, Oneika McAnuff, Jody-Ann Daley and Danielle King combined to run 3:15.63 to win ahead of Edwin Allen (3:16.20) and Bullis School (3:36.25). Holmwood Technical (3:43.13) and St. Catherine High (3:45.03) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Edwin Allen, the region’s lone representative in the 4x800m final, finished second in a time of 8:58.83. New Jersey’s Union Catholic dominated the race to win in 8:44.98 while North Carolina’s Mount Tabor was third in 9:04.88.

Jamaica College won the Championship of America High School Boys 4x100m title at the 127^th Penn Relays at the Franklin Field on Friday.

Their quartet of Daniel Beckford, Hector Benjamin, Jaiden Reid and Malique Smith-Band combined to run 40.97 to win ahead of STETHS (41.19) and Archbishop John Carroll (41.19).

The field was rounded out by Camperdown (41.34), Kingston College (41.59), Wolmer’s Boys (41.71), Mallard Creek (42.72).

IMG Academy, who were expected to challenge for top spot, had issues with their baton passes and never recovered, eventually crossing the line in 49.56 in eighth while St. Jago failed to finish.

The High School Boys International title was won by Excelsior in 41.04 over Calabar (41.12) and Herbert Morrison (41.87).

Trinidad & Tobago’s Queen’s Royal College were fourth in 41.94 while Jamaica’s St. Catherine High and Edwin Allen were fifth and sixth in 42.49 and 42.73, respectively.

The Bahamas’ St. Augustine’s were seventh in 42.78 ahead of Jamaica’s William Knibb (43.48). St. George’s College failed to finish.

Hydel High will enter Saturday’s High School Girls Championship of America 4x100m as clear favourites after advancing fastest from Friday’s heats at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field.

Hydel produced a sizzling 44.96 to win heat 14 and advance fastest ahead of heat 17 winners Bullis School (46.05) and heat six winners, Edwin Allen (46.64).

Nassau’s St. Augustine’s finished second in heat 17 in 46.80 to advance while St. Jago ran the same time to win heat five. Wolmer’s Girls advanced eighth fastest with 47.35 to finish second in heat 15, won by McDonough School (46.95).

The field is completed by Heritage (47.23) and South County (47.37).

The race is set for Saturday.

The qualifiers for the High School Girls International final, also set for Saturday, are Jamaica’s St. Catherine High (47.53), Holmwood Technical (47.61), St. Mary High (47.78), Manchester High (47.82), Excelsior High (48.00), Mount Alvernia (48.83) and Holy Childhood (49.00) as well as the Bahamas’ Queens College (48.32) and Puerto Rico’s Academia Interamericana (48.76).

Edwin Allen will be the Caribbean’s lone representative in the High School Girls Championship of America 4x800m final after running 9:17.28 to win their heat.

In the field, Jamaica secured the top three spots in the High School Girls discus. Holmwood’s Cedricka Williams took first with 57.32m ahead of St. Jago’s Abigail Martin (54.54m) and Camperdown’s Britannie Johnson (47.33).

Camperdown’s Britannia Johnson, twin sister of Britannie, took the shot put in 14.04m. Livingston’s Jessica Oji was second with 13.86m while Edwin Allen’s Rochele Solomon was third with 13.57m.

Mount Alvernia’s Aaliyah Foster jumped 5.78m for third in the long jump behind James River’s Lilly Ver Beek (5.92m) and Friend’s Central’s Avery Lewis (6.21m).

St. Jago’s Jade-Ann Dawkins produced 13.02m for victory in the triple jump ahead of Ocean City’s Sophia Curtis (12.45m) and Western Branch’s Llyric Driscoll (12.38m).

Three girls cleared 1.70m in the high jump with Howell’s Samantha Strydesky winning ahead of Shanniqua Williams of Wolmer’s Girls and Edwin Allen’s Deijanae Bruce.

St. Elizabeth Technical, Kingston College, Wolmer’s Boys and Jamaica College were among the fastest qualifiers to the High School Boys Championship of America 4x100m final on Thursday’s day one of the 2023 Penn Relays at the Franklin Field.

STETHS with 41.32 were joint fastest qualifiers alongside Florida’s IMG Academy. Kingston College was next fastest with a 41.72 clocking to win their heat. Wolmer’s Boys (41.79) and Jamaica College (41.85) also advanced as heat winners. Camperdown (42.03) and St. Jago (42.03) will also be in the Championship of America final scheduled for Friday.

The High School Boys International final, also scheduled for Friday, will feature seven Jamaican schools as well as one each from the Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago.

St. George’s College, Calabar, Excelsior, Herbert Morrison, St. Catherine High, Edwin Allen and William Knibb all advanced as well as Queen’s Royal College from Port-of-Spain and St. Augustine’s from Nassau.

In the 4x800m, Kingston College and STETHS both advanced to the final set for Friday.

KC won their heat in 7:54.79 while STETHS recorded 7:55.96 to finish second in their heat behind Charlotte Catholic (7:54.44).

Defending champions Jamaica College originally ran 7:49.29 to comfortably win their heat but were subsequently disqualified after it was revealed that they used an ineligible runner.

In the field, Calabar’s Kobe Lawrence won the High School Boys shot put with 20.43m ahead of St. Rose’s Joshua Huisman (19.40m) and St. Jago’s Shaiquan Dunn (18.07m).

JC’s Raquil Broderick was third in the discus with 61.92m behind University Garden’s Nathan Villegas -Reyes (62.49m) and Southern Regional’s Fabian Gonzalez (61.94m).

St. Jago’s Demario Prince jumped out to 7.42m to win the long jump ahead of Archbishop John Carroll’s Camren Williams (7.32m) and KC’s Nathan Wade (7.22m).

Three men cleared 1.98m in the high jump with the KC pair of Isaiah Patrick and Aaron McKenzie finishing second and third, respectively, behind Bloomfield’s Ja’Mari Manson.

JC’s Gabriel Lim won the javelin with 61.24m ahead od Danville’s Bronson Krinak (60.31) and Riverside’s Joseph Reed (59.26).

15.17m was the winning mark in the triple jump by JC’s Trevon Hammer. Potomac’s Ty’heak Buie produced 14.88m for second while KC’s Javar Thomas was third with 14.81m.

St. Lucian senior Julien Alfred and Jamaican junior Kevona Davis were part of the Texas quartet that set the Mike A. Myers Stadium track on fire on their way to setting a new collegiate record at the 2023 Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on Saturday.

Alfred, the 2023 NCAA Indoor 60m and 200m champion and record holder, ran the opening leg for the Longhorns before passing to Ezinne Abba who then passed to Lanae Thomas before Davis anchored the team to a time of 42.00, breaking the previous collegiate record 42.05 set by LSU in 2018.

Earlier in the day, Alfred, Davis and Thomas combined with Rhasidat Adeleke to set a new collegiate record 1:28.05 in the 4x200.

On Friday, Alfred was also a part of the quartet that set a collegiate record in the sprint medley.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist split 22.4 in the first 200m leg of the relay and combined with Rhasidat Adeleke, Kennedy Simon and Valery Tobias to run 3:36.10 and break the previous record 3:38.93 set at last year’s Texas relays by Texas A&M.

Individually, Jamaican Ashanti Moore ran 11.23 for second in the Women’s Invitational 100m behind Olympic 200m bronze medallist Gabby Thomas (11.09) while Lynna Irby-Jackson was third in 11.31.

Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09 marathon world record, along with world U20 records set last year by 100m sprinter Letsile Tebogo and Jamaica’s 4x100m team, have been ratified.

At the World U20 Championships in Cali, the Jamaican quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Kerrica Hill and Tia Clayton teamed up to take the title in 42.59, taking 0.35 off the previous record that the same team had achieved on 22 August 2021 at the previous World U20 Championships in Nairobi.

A similar quartet – but with Brianna Lyston on third leg instead of Hill – had clocked a marginally quicker 42.58 at the Carifta Games earlier in 2022, but it could not be ratified as a record.

Double Olympic champion Kipchoge won the Berlin Marathon last year, taking 30 seconds off the marathon world record he had set in the same city on 16 September 2018.

The 38-year-old Kenyan went out hard, passing through 5km in 14:14 and 10km in 28:22 – not just comfortably inside world record pace, but also well inside a projected two-hour finish. He maintained that pace through half way, which was reached in 59:50 – identical to his half-way split when he produced a sub-two-hour run in an unofficial orchestrated race in Vienna three years ago. His pace started to drop slightly from then on, but he was still comfortably inside world record pace.

Ethiopia’s Andamlak Belihu had been level with Kipchoge up until that point, but the Kenyan superstar then gradually pulled clear and was out on his own. He passed through 30km in 1:25:40, then reached 35km in 1:40:10. By the time he passed through 40km in 1:54:53, his lead had grown to move than four minutes.

Kipchoge went on to cross the line in 2:01:09, making this the eighth consecutive men’s marathon world record to be set in Berlin.

"I am overjoyed to have broken the world record," said Kipchoge. "I wanted to run the first half so fast. After 38km I knew I would be capable of breaking the world record. The circumstances were great, and so was the organisation.”

Botswana’s Tebogo successfully defended his 100m title at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22. He had broken the championship record in his heat with 10.00, then won his semifinal in 10.14 before going on to dominate the final in 9.91 (0.8m/s).

His winning time took 0.03 off the world U20 record he had set in Eugene on 15 July in the heats of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

“When the gun went off, I had to make sure I made the best start of my life – and it was the best start of my life,” said Tebogo. “As soon as I took my first step, I knew the title was mine. I didn’t worry about the time. I didn’t look.”