PanAm men's 4*400 team

[Stonigut]

What an embarrassment. We have about ten maybe more guys running 45 mash and probably another ten that can bring in low 46 in a flat race. How is it that this team runs sixth and 3:02 and showed absolutely no competitiveness in the run, the lead off man looked like he did not even belong on the track.

Very poor run!

[Peter R]

Maybe we just sent a C or D team? I didn't recognize many names (but I do not follow the sport) on both the men's and ladies' relay teams...

[Stonigut]

Calabar running 3:07 with the fastest being a 15yo. Our a and b team should be sub 3:00, c team should be pretty competitive as well.

[Historian]

Embarrassment?? Embarrassment You Say?

What an embarrassment. We have about ten maybe more guys running 45 mash and probably another ten that can bring in low 46 in a flat race. How is it that this team runs sixth and 3:02 and showed absolutely no competitiveness in the run, the lead off man looked like he did not even belong on the track.

Very poor run!

Stoni, you are ONLY NOW being embarrassed by our 4x400-meter relay senior men? Aside from Javon Francis’ literal one-man show at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow where, on the final leg, he took Jamaica from around fifth position to second and the silver medal, when have our 4x400-meter relay senior men not been an embarrassment?

Now here’s a question for you: In the midst of Jamaica’s incredibly impressive sprint, 400-meter hurdles and relay performances at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, guess which relay team was the ONLY embarrassment to Jamaica? (Hint: this Jamaican relay team came eighth -- dead last -- and if there were nine lanes this team would have placed ninth)! And you are limited to only one guess!

PeterR: It is really obvious that you have stopped watching relays. Trust me, our 4x400-relay men have yet to recover from the departure many years ago of people like Greg Haughton, Davian Clarke, and Danny McFarlane. By the way, there were only a couple of what we might regard as “unknowns” on the four relay teams this weekend. For example, everyone who competed on our women’s 4x100-meter relay team that got the silver medal are athletes who have been representing Jamaica at the senior level for many years.

Our greater worry as far as international competition is concerned should be the incredible young American sprinters who are emerging. Check out the USA’s phenomenal 16-year-old sprinter Candace Hill at the recent IAAF World Youth Championship!! What she did in Colombia (setting a world youth record in the 200-meter race and setting TWO world youth records in one day in the 100-meter dash) has never before been done at this level (that is, setting three world records in two days)!!

Need more? Check out the 17-year-old star, Kaylin Whitney, who gave our veteran relay runner Simone Facey a lesson in anchor leg running during the final of the women’s 4x100-meter relay last night in Canada! Jamaica was on the way to gold before Kaylin shifted gears. In the meantime, despite the Champs and Carifta Games successes, is Jamaica producing outstanding youngsters to replace our aging stars?

Note: Since I made reference to our relay teams at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, let me quickly add here that it is extremely easy to forgive the women’s 4x100-meter relay situation. There is very little question that Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson, Kerron Stewart and Veronica Campbell were by far the most outstanding relay team (each of these four ladies had won either a gold or a silver medal in the days prior to the relay), but it was obvious that the valiant effort to break the sprint relay world record led to that failed baton exchange between backstretch runner Sherone and curve runner Kerron.

[Peter R]

I defer to your knowledge on the subject of T&F... thanks for the information.

So, what about the 4x100 team in Pan Am as well? failed to finish? if I got my facts straight.

[Stonigut]

Missed that race but heard they dnf, no other details.

[Peter R]

I think they dropped the baton on the last exchange. However, I don't think we were in any "danger" at that point, of winning a medal.

[Historian]

My Apology To Simone Facey

Check out the 17-year-old star, Kaylin Whitney, who gave our veteran relay runner Simone Facey a lesson in anchor leg running during the final of the women’s 4x100-meter relay last night in Canada! Jamaica was on the way to gold before Kaylin shifted gears.

Looking closely at that Pan American Games women’s 4x100-meter relay again, I think I may have been incorrect in suggesting that Simone Facey received the baton before Kaylin Whitney. It seems that the Americans actually received the baton slightly in front.

So, my comments about Simone (one of my all-time favorite Jamaican sprinters since meeting her for the first time as an Under-17 sprint star at the 2001 Carifta Games in Barbados) seem to be unfair. Added to this is the matter of youth and context: Simone Facey’s personal best 100-meter time of 10.95 was set “way back” in 2008, while Kaylin Whitney ran 11.10 just last year. So, it would seem that Kaylin taught Simone absolutely nothing, and that my initial conclusion is questionable.

Regarding the men’s 4x100-meter relay team, I have seen so-called knowledgeable Jamaican track and field fans dismiss Andrew Fisher’s transfer to Bahrain as no loss to Jamaica! Well, time will show that that arrogant view is so incorrect and silly!

Peter R, my friend, our men’s Pan Am Games’ 4x100-meter team barely qualified for the final (we placed fourth in the semis, with even Antigua and Barbuda beating us) and so, not surprisingly, we ended up in the extremely undesirable Lane 1. We had a failure in baton hand-off between curve runner Bernardo Brady and anchor Sheldon Mitchell (Jason Livermore and Dexter Lee were the other members of this second-rate team). But even without this baton failure, we were never in contention for a medal.

[Stonigut]

Simone however never stepped up to the challenge of Whitney's next gear. She started on fire or maybe Whitney was cruising, bottom line is there is no way Whitney should have been able to pull away so convincingly mid leg. However I guess Facey is now at best a 11.15-2 100 meter runner in perfect conditions so Whitney pulling away so convincingly should not be a total surprise.

[Willi]

Oh, I was about to correct you.

USA had baton clear first and Facey drew beside her, but used all her energy to do so. Kaylin did not panic and maintained and brought it home.

Agree about Fischer. I dont like losing ANY sprinter!

[Stonigut]

Nacac team with big senior 400 runners did 3:07 this weekend, they are now making the Panam team look great, not sure on the difference in team makeup.