Merritt heads US dominance
nassau — American veteran Lashawn Merritt showed all his experience to bag a third successive 4x400m gold at the IAAF World Relays on Sunday, as Canadian Andre de Grasse underlined his credentials as Usain Bolt’s most likely successor.
The all-powerful US team followed up on victories on Saturday in the women’s 4x800m and men’s 4x100m relays by clinching gold in both the men and women’s 4x400m and men’s 4x800m to easily top the medals table. Merritt, whose first senior relay gold dates back to the Helsinki worlds in 2005, had teammates David Verburg, Tony McQuay and Kyle Clemons to thank for putting him out in front.
But he hadn’t counted on 18-yearold Botswanan sensation Karabo Sibando, who caught the 30-yearold American up before Merritt battled down the home stretch to hold on for a nerve-racking win in 3min 02.13sec from the Africans, Jamaica taking bronze. “We have a great group of guys here tonight,” said Merritt. “They did what they had to do and I did what I do best, that’s ‘bring it home,’ my third time here and third gold!”
Canadian De Grasse, who won three medals at last year’s Rio Olympics, underlined his coming of age as Jamaican legend Bolt’s own tip as world sprinting’s next dominant figure by laying down a startling third leg in the 4x200m relay.
It was enough to wrest back control for Canada, teammate Aaron Brown holding off American Ameer Webb for a scintillating victory in the 4x200m relay, Jamaica taking bronze. Canada’s victory, with Gavin Smellie and Brendon Rodney running the first two legs, was the first time a country other than the US or Jamaica had won a sprint relay and made up for the disappointment of not finishing the 4x100m.
“It was a great run by all of us,” said De Grasse, 22. “We came together collectively, we just wanted to keep the stick around. We told ourselves to trust each other and be patient.”
Canada’s win was followed by another upset as Germany picked up an unexpected gold in the women’s 4x100m, Alexandra Burghardt, Lisa Mayer, Tatjana Pinto and Rebekka Haase combining to outpace Jamaica with their winning time of 42.84sec. —