GOLDEN GIRLS LIGHT UP CHINA AND A HISTORY MAKING RELAY BRONZE FOR GB&NI TEAM

The women’s Great Britain and Northern Ireland 4x100m relay team won gold at the World Relays in Guangzhou, plus a history-making bronze medal for the GB and NI quartet in the World Relays debut event of the mixed 4x100m.

The women’s 4x400m won their qualifying round, confirming that all five GB and NI teams have secured qualification for the World Championships in Tokyo later this year. The whole team can travel home having accomplished the main mission for the weekend, which also gave many of the squad valuable international experience.

It was the mixed 4x100m opening the finals evening with a bang. Stepping into the team was the experienced Asha Philip (Amy Deem, Newham and Essex Beagles) on the opening leg, a swift handover to Kissiwaa Mensah (Prince Duwai, Chelmsford), who was up in the mix, making another slick handover to Jeriel Quainoo (Ryan Feckleton, Blackheath and Bromley), who flew around the bend into a medal position. Handing the baton over to Joe Ferguson (Richard Kilty, Sheffield & Dearne) in third position, who sprinted down the finish line just behind Jamacia and Canada to claim the bronze medal with a time of 40.88.

Ferguson reflected on the mindset the team had for these championships; “The main thing we have gone for, for these championships that Nethaneel brought up was having a gold standard. That is what we have aimed for and that is exactly what we have done. Do not aim for silver or bronze; aim for gold, and you will end up somewhere. And that is what we have done, we aimed for the gold and come away with a medal.”

The women’s 4x100m stole the show, winning the gold medal in a time of 42.21. Debutant Nia Wedderburn-Goodison (Ryan Freckleton, Harrow) came out of the blocks fast in the outside lane, to cleanly passed the baton on to Amy Hunt (Marco Airale, Charnwood) who stormed down the back straight with the Jamaicans right next to her. Bianca Williams (Linford Christie, Thames Valley) cleanly took the final bend as there was nothing in it, getting Success Eduan (Anita Richardson, Sale Harriers Manchester) right in the mix, on her senior international debut to run down the Americans, Spanish and Jamaicans to take the win.

The midwifery student, Eduan, tried to break down what was going through her mind on that final leg; “I don’t even know what happened – I just went past them. That is all I did. To come away with a gold medal, not any other colour but gold it is absolutely amazing. We have worked hard for this. I was just so confident in these girls and what we are here for. I have a winning mentality, and I was always going to go for the gold.”

The women’s 4x400m came out for their World Championship qualifying heat with a fierce determination to secure that spot in Tokyo, and this is precisely what they did. Laviai Nielsen (Tony Lester, Enfield & Harringey) gave the team the perfect start, giving Emily Newnham (Nick Dakin, Shaftesbury Barnet) a significant position in the mix at the top, with Poland and Belgium on her heels. Emily calmly kept her line, handing over to team captain Lina Nielsen (Tony Lester, Shaftesbury Barnet), who pulled away in the last 100m, giving the baton to Nicole Yeargin (Vince Anderson, Pitreavie) to maintain the lead on the final leg to finish 3:24.46.

Team Captain Lina Nielsen (Tony Lester, Shaftesbury Barnet) praised her teammates for their focus on the track: “Today, we went in with a mindset that we have a good team, to trust each other and move as one, like in my captain’s speech theme! And we really did trust each other out there. We kept saying to one another, we got this girls. We are really, really pleased with today.”

Next to take to the stage in Guangzhou was the mixed 4x400m, a young squad saw Sam Lunt (James Wright, Wirral) open the proceedings in lane eight, digging deep to hold on in the middle of the group to hand over the baton to Poppy Malik (Grant Barker, Harrow), who made her international debut earlier this season at the European Indoors. She slotted into fifth as they broke and kept strong to hand the baton to debutant Bailey Swift (Leon Baptiste, Northampton), who battled with the Belgium overtaking him with 200m to go, handing over to Hannah Kelly (Les Hall, Bolton) who couldn’t quite catch the Kenyan in third to bring it home to finish in fourth with a time of 3:14.74.

Kelly reflected on the enjoyment of being part of the team: “It has been amazing. Poppy and Bailey getting their senior debut is an honour to be on the same team with them. Sharing that moment with them and then bringing it home is always fun. I tried to catch the Kenyon, but it was too much. I’m very proud of the whole team.”

It was heartbreak for the men’s 4x100m. The same quartet from the heats did not finish the race as they narrowly just missed the exchange in the box on the final handover from Jona Efoloko (Ryan Freckleton, Sale Harriers Manchester) to Eugene Amo-Dadzie (Steve Fudge, Woodford Green Essex Ladies). The aim was to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo, which they did yesterday, winning their heat in spectacular fashion.

Efoloko reflected post race; “Of course we are feeling disappointed. We know we’re better than that. Unfortunately, things happen, it’s part of the game. We will look at it, regroup, learn from it and we will go again. The main thing is we qualified for Tokyo, which was the goal. Then we’ll get it right. Come September, we’ll be ready.”

The final race of the evening was the men’s 4x400m final. Toby Harries (David Sadkin, Brighton Pheonix) battled hard in lane nine, handing the baton to Efe Okoro (Felipe Siqueria, Birchfield Harriers), who held into fourth on the break chasing the lead pack. Josh Faulds (James Wright, Rugby & Northampton) who took the baton in sixth position, and maintaining that position to hand over to Rio Mitcham (Leon Baptiste, Birchfield Harriers), who held off the Portuguese, to finish sixth place with a time of 3:03.46.

Harries shared his thoughts on the race; “I led them off in lane 9, so running blind, a time trial basically. I would have liked to have pushed a little bit harder on the top bend. I think I came back really strong and I’m very happy with how I set the boys up today. It is what it is. We did the main qualification yesterday so I’m coming away very happy from this weekend.”

You can find all the results from the World Relays here and read more about what happened on day one from the competition here.