Jamaica needs Bolt to beat us – Kilty
ENGLAND’S RICHARD Kilty believes that Jamaica needs retired sprint king Usain Bolt to win in the 4x100 metre relay.
A jubilant Kilty expressed the view after England won the sprint relay at the Commonwealth Games a few days ago in Australia. With Bolt at trackside as a guest, Jamaica finished third.
Reuben Arthur, Zharnel Hughes, Kilty and Harry Aikines Aryeetey took the gold medals in 38.13 seconds, ahead of South Africa and Jamaica.
“They need him (Bolt) to beat us now!” said Kilty in an interview with the English track and field magazine ATHLETICS WEEKLY. “Last time in Glasgow, we gave the baton ahead of him, they can’t handle us without him!”
In Glasgow, Jamaica and England were virtually level when Kilty completed the third leg. Bolt then zoomed away from Danny Talbot as Jamaica set a Games record of 37.58 seconds.
An all-English Great Britain foursome won the World Championship 4x100m in London, but as Kilty noted, the Commonwealth win came in the absence of CJ Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot or Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, who teamed to win last year.
“It shows how strong we are,” said the former World and European 60-metre champion. “A completely different team that ran in London came out here and beat some of the best sprinters in the world,” exulted the only survivor from the English runner-up foursome from 2014.
“It’s amazing,” he said, overjoyed. Incidentally, an American club team clocked 38.08 seconds in a meet in the United States on the same weekend.
New world indoor 60-metre record holder Christian Coleman, 100-metre world champion Justin Gatlin, Ronnie Baker and Mike Rodgers joined forces in Knoxville, Tennessee to set that world-leading time.