After failing three times this season to secure a place among teams whose times have qualified them for the September 2025 World Championships in Athletics, a cracking Jamaican men’s 4x100m relay team figured out how to reach Tokyo when they competed at the London Diamond League series yesterday (19th).
The squad of Rohan Watson, Oblique Seville, Kadrian Goldson, and Kishane Thompson (in that running order) produced a season’s best time of 37.80s, Jamaica’s fastest time since 2023, and zoomed to the third fastest time this year behind South Africa and the USA.
Previous Attempts
In their first attempt in the heats at the World Relays in March in China, where teams were aiming to achieve the qualifying mark of 48.19, Jamaica dropped the baton at the second exchange. In their second attempt at the same meet, the second-leg runner pulled up injured and was unable for the second time to connect with the third-leg runner, leaving the anchor looking on.
In a third attempt at the Barbados Grand Prix the first week of July, the B team won in a time slower that the qualifying mark.
Their next stop, London, would have been one shot away from their final chance at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC), signaling crunch time, so Jamaica unleashed a top-tier squad in front of a packed Olympic Stadium, and they got the work done in commanding fashion as Jamaican fans breathed a sigh of relief.
“We are very grateful to get the job done,” Thompson said after the race. “I would not say they were the best exchanges, but we got it around safely. We had to trust each other and get the baton around without any issues.”
Displaces Netherlands, Nigeria
The victory pushed Jamaica from 17th into 15th place in the World Championships qualifying standings, displacing the Netherlands (37.87) to 16th and knocking Nigeria (38.20) who were 16th out of a qualifying position.
Fourteen teams had already booked their spots at the World Relays in China in March, leaving space for the next two fastest teams by the August 24 qualifying deadline to complete the field for Tokyo. Jamaica is now in a perfect position to take one of the two remaining slots. It is hardly likely that a faster time will be run by the teams behind them to bump them off.