Solomon, T&T upset USA in 4x400
La Cueva, UNM alumnus is 1st leg of team’s world title run
LONDON — Former Lobo All-American Jarrin Solomon helped Trinidad and Tobago upset the United States in the men’s 4x400meter relay on Sunday, the final night of the 10-day world championships at London Stadium.
Solomon, an Albuquerque native and La Cueva alumnus, also helped Trinidad and Tobago earn a bronze medal in the 4x400 at the 2012 London Olympics.
“To come back into this stadium and do two better and another national record was more than we could ask for,” Solomon said in a post race video found on social media. He ran the first leg in 46.10 — Trinidad and Tobago was in seventh place among the eight teams in the final when he handed off.
But his teammate Lalonde Gordon stayed in the slipstream of Fred Kerley for most of the last lap, then pushed past the American to win in 2 minutes, 58.12 seconds. The U.S. team was second in 2:58.61. Britain took bronze in 2:59.00. Solomon was Trinidad and Tobago’s lead runner.
Solomon’s father, Mike Solomon, was a twotime Olympian for his native Trinidad, making Jarrin eligible for dual citizenship. Mike was also a UNM track star.
Meanwhile, the U.S.’s Allyson Felix won gold in the 4x400meter relay a day after winning gold in the 4x100. She also earned a bronze medal in the 400-meters to give her 16 in her career. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt finished his career with 14. The Americans finished with 30 medals, 10 of them gold. That was only one short of the overall record held by East Germany.
Bolt, however, will leave London without a gold medal. Running at his last major championship this week, the Jamaican got a royal farewell from the 60,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday as they cheered his famed “To The World” pose.
“It was brilliant,” said Bolt, who pulled up in his last race as he was running anchor in the men’s 4x100 relay. “Everything happens for a reason.”
Kenya was the only other team to break into double figures with 11 medals overall.
The world championships also got its only world record on Sunday, and it was in the only new event — the women’s 50-kilometer walk. Ines Henriques of Portugal bettered her own mark by finishing in 4 hours, 5 minutes, 56 seconds on the two-kilometer loop in central London. Only seven women started the race and only four finished.