When the 14th renewal of the IAAF World Championships ended in Russia yesterday, Jamaica’s medal tally stood at six gold, two silver and one bronze to lead the Caribbean standings.
By copping victory in the women’s sprint relay, the penultimate event, Jamaica’s quartet of Carrie Russell, Kerron Stewart, Schillonie Calvert and Shell-Ann Fraser-Pryce – running in that order – registered 41.29 secs to take down the old Championships mark of 41.47, as well as the Jamaican record of 41.41 set at the London Olympics last year, thanks to slick baton through all three zones that sent the Fraser-Pryce flying far ahead as the rest of the field battled for the spoils. She separated herself from the pack to win by 1.44 seconds, the largest-margin ever in the history of the Championships, and it was the first time that the champion had won by over a full second.
The victory was the third for Jamaica in the history of the World Championships, and the new record stands second the world record of 40.82 set by the US at the London Olympics.
Two hours earlier, the squad of Russell, Stewart, Calvert and 100m finalist Sherri-Ann Brooks ran 41.87 to win and qualify for the final.
Then it was the men’s turn, and 100m bronze medalist Nesta Carter, Kemar Bailey-Cole, 200m silver medalist Warren Weir and Oshane Bailey posted 38.17 for second to Great Britain and qualify for the he British team, which crossed the line in third place, was disqualified for passing the baton outside the box at the second exchange zone.
A Female First
While Frazer-Pryce and Bolt pocketed three gold medals each, the 26-year-old Frazer-Pryce became the first female sprinter to win both the individual events (100m and 200m) and the 4x100m relay at one World Championships. She is only the third woman to do the individual double, after East Germany’s Silke Gladisch (1987) and Katrin Krabbe (1991).
Gladisch had won silver with East Germany in the relay and Krabbe, the bronze for Germany four years later.
In Bolt’s case, it was his eighth World gold medal after winning the sprint double at the Berlin Championships in 2009, the 200m in Daegu in 2011, the 100m and 200m in Moscow, as well as gold as part of the winning Jamaican 4x100m relay squads in both 2009, 2011 and now 2013.
He has joined Americans Allyson Felix, Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson who, including relays, have all won eight world championship gold medals.
Caribbean Medals Standings
(Gold-Silver-Bronze)
Jamaica 6-2-1
Trinidad & Tobago 1-0-0
Cuba 0-1-2
Dominican Republic 0-0-1