BRITISH MEN’S 4X100 TEAM

THE 2017 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in London had many memorable moments: Mo Farah straining every sinew to retain the 10,000m crown; Usain Bolt’s 100m reign finally coming to an end. But the moment that really lifted the nation was surely the sublime performance by the British men’s 4x100m relay team, who claimed a remarkable gold.

It wasn’t meant to be. The relays were about Bolt, the great man’s final chance to win a medal on an international stage, with the Jamaicans going head-tohead with the world’s other sprinting powerhouse, the US. Clearly, no one told Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-blake. Racing out of lane seven, with the Jamaicans and the US inside them, the Brits got off to a flyer. Ujah had gained half a metre on his rivals when he handed over to Gemili, who increased the lead. Talbot ran a storming bend to pass the baton to Mitchell-blake. And, with Bolt pulling up with a hamstring injury, Mitchell-blake held off the US’S fast-finishing Christian Coleman for a stunning, and raucously celebrated, victory.

The time, 37.47, smashed the British record, set a European Record and was the world’s fastest for the year. Jamaica and the US didn’t lose; Britain won.

‘ The feeling of euphoria was from infinity,’ said Mitchell-blake. Indeed. What camaraderie, what teamwork, what a performance. If athletics really is to make good on its promise to ‘inspire a generation’, it is scenes such as this – joyous, heartfelt, communal – that will do it.