Previews29 Apr 2015


Women's 4x100m preview – IAAF/BTC World Relays, Bahamas 2015

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Jeneba Tarmoh and Tianna Bartoletta celebrate their 4x100m victory at the IAAF World Relays (© Getty Images)

The USA has put forward one half of last year’s winning 4x100m team and reinforced it with two athletes who have won multiple medals at global championships.

Three-time world 200m champion Allyson Felix and 2011 world 100m champion Carmelita Jeter will join two-time world indoor bronze medallist Tianna Bartoletta and 2008 world junior champion Jeneba Tarmoh on the US squad, along with Tiffany Townsend and Jessica Young.

Felix, Jeter and Bartoletta formed three quarters of the world-record-breaking team at the 2012 Olympics. If all three are chosen for the final team in Nassau, it would be the first time since the London Games that the trio has teamed up in a relay.

The USA’s winning mark of 41.88 last year was only bettered by Jamaica throughout the whole of 2014. Two of the runners from that quartet – Kerron Stewart and Veronica Campbell-Brown – will be in Nassau.

Trinidad and Tobago finished third in Nassau 12 months ago. All four of the athletes from that team feature in this year’s squad, as does Kelly-Ann Baptiste, who recently clocked 10.98.

Great Britain are the European champions and twice broke the national record in 2014, ending the year as the third-fastest team in the world. All but one of the athletes who featured on those teams will be in Nassau, looking to improve on their fifth-place finish from last year.

Nigeria finished just 0.01 outside the top three at the 2014 World Relays but went on to win the African title. Bolstered by double Commonwealth sprint champion Blessing Okagbare, they are bound to be a threat once more.

Potentially making an appearance for the host nation is 2001 world 200m champion Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie. Now 39, she is 14 years older than the next-oldest athlete on The Bahamas’ 4x100m team.

Other teams to look out for include Brazil, France and Germany.

Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF