Just when the whole world got fixated on the retirement of Usain Bolt and if he would end his illustrious career with a GOLD medal, Great Britian’s 4x100m relay quartet ruined the party and won an unprecedented GOLD at the London World Championships.
The quartet of Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake ran the race of their lives to win the 4x100m title with a World Lead (WL) and British National Record (NR) of 37.47s.
USA, who many tipped as the favourites to upset Bolt and his Jamaican teammates, came in 2nd with a Season’s Best (SB) of 37.52s, while Japan also ran an SB to take Bronze in 38.04s.
For Bolt, it has been a Championship to forget. By the time the mutiple World Record (WR) holder got the baton from Yohan Blake in his anchor-leg position, he was some meters behind USA’s Coleman and Mitchell-Blake. He appeared to have pulled a hamstring and Did Not Finish (DNF).
Although the Jamaican Team Doctor speaking on Bolt’s injury revealed that: “It’s cramp in his left hamstring but a lot of pain is from disappointment from losing the race. The last three weeks have been hard for him, you know. We hope for the best for him.”
Meanwhile Ujah who was part of that British quartet to win GOLD thanked the crowd for their support: “This crowd was amazing – this is the most fantastic feeling.
“We said we knew we could do it, but when we did it, we did it with a bang. I’m proud of these guys, we work so hard, including the team behind us at British Athletics, and it’s just crazy to do it in London, our home-town.” Ujah added.
While Justin Gatlin who ran the 2nd leg for Team USA appeared happy that they got Silver: “We’ve had a good foundation to build off. After DQs in recent years we knew we had to get the baton round and to finish the night smoothly is a fantastic achievement and we’ll enjoy our moment on the podium.
“I trust these guys. Every single one of them puts all the hard work in and they do their business. I mean, the best men won today so credit to GB. They ran a hell of a relay but I think this makes us hungrier. We know what we can do and we’ll be ready in 2019.
Gatlin who won the men’s 100m title also paid tribute to the British team for their triumph: “The Brits had a hell of a race. You can’t take it from them. They had the pressure of running on home soil and they delivered.”
