Athletics: Kenyans set for epic battle in Japan
Athletics
By
Dennis Okeyo and IAAF
| May 10, 2019
Kenyans will line up at the fourth IAAF World Relays Championships that starts in Yokohama, Japan, tomorrow.
It’s the first time the two-day event is held outside The Bahamas, who hosted the inaugural contest in 2014 then followed it in 2015 and 2017.
Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich, the 2016 Diamond League Trophy winner, makes his third appearance at the World Relays Championships hoping to lead the 2x2x400m mixed team to podium place.
Rotich, who boasts an impressive 1:42.8 best mark in 800m, will partner with Emily Cherotich, who has 1:58.04 personal best alongside Collins Kipruto and Eglay Nalianya.
The Kenyan team expects a stiff challenge from the USA led by Michael Cherry who has been a reliable relay athlete in recent years, having been instrumental in the silver medal-winning teams at the 2017 World Championships and 2018 World Indoor Championships.
The women's 4x400m team that features Hellen Syombua, Gladys Nthenya, Maureen Thomas, Neviah Michira and Veronica Mutua hope to go past the heats.
Unlike in previous men's World Relays finals, which all came down to fierce homestretch battles, the women's were decidedly more lopsided with US quartets winning by 1.53 seconds in 2014, 3.10 seconds in 2015 and 4.92 seconds in 2017.
Jamaica, who finished runner-up in 2014 and 2015 before settling for bronze two years ago, look ready to parade a strong team.
The women's 4x400m will feature a strong Poland team and Nigeria, the bronze medallists at the inaugural edition and consistent top-five finishers at global events, could be a medal threat as well. So could Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the third-place finishers in 2015, who more recently were second at the European Indoor Championships.
The team banks on Haron Koech, Jared Momanyi, Maureen Thomas and Hellen Syombua to go past heats in the mixed 4x400m event.
Given its prodigious depth in mixed 4x400m event, USA will start as the squad to beat. But with a team that's largely untested internationally entered, the race appears to be wide open though defending champion The Bahamas did not enter a team.
The Jamaican squad, which finished third in this event two years ago, has Javon Francis, a 2016 Olympic silver medallist in the event and Tiffany James, the 2016 world U20 400m champion.
Elsewhere, the 2011 world 100m champion Yohan Blake has withdrawn from Jamaica’s team ahead of tomorrow’s World Relays.
JAAA president Blake gave the reasons for Yohan Blakes's withdrawal: "The reason for Yohan Blake's replacement is that he didn't feel that he should travel that far just to run in one race; that's what his agent wrote and told us. They wanted him to run in both the 4x100m and 4x200m despite the fact that the finals go off within half an hour of each other," said Blake.
Tomorrow
12:38 pm — Mixed Shuttle Hurdles Heats
1:05 pm — Women’s 4x400m Heats
1:40 pm — Men’s 4x400m Heats
2:13 pm — Women’s 4x100m Heats
2:40 pm - Mixed 2x2x400m FINAL
3:00 pm — Men’s 4x100m Heats
3:22 pm — Mixed 4x400m Heats
3:55 pm — Mixed Shuttle Hurdles FINAL
Sunday
12:10 pm — Women’s 4x200m Heats
12:21 pm — Men’s 4x200m Heats
12:52 pm — Women’s 4x400m B Final
1:05 pm — Men’s 4x400m B Final
1:21 pm — Women’s 4x400m FINAL
1:37 pm — Men’s 4x400m FINAL
1:53 pm — Mixed 4x400m FINAL
2:09 pm — Women’s 4x200m FINAL
2:23 pm — Men’s 4x200m FINAL
2:37 pm — Women’s 4x100m FINAL
2:52 pm — Men’s 4x100m FINAL