Athletics-Canada crowned inaugural mixed 4x100m relay champions

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GUANGZHOU (Reuters) -Canada produced a sublime display in ideal sprinting conditions to outclass Jamaica and Britain en route to the inaugural mixed 4×100 metres relay gold on the final day of the World Athletics Relays on Sunday.

After setting the pace during the heats on a soggy Saturday in Guangzhou, where the event made its debut on the global stage, the Canadian quartet powered out of the blocks in the final and crossed the finish line in a season’s best 40.30 seconds.

Strong runs by Sade McCreath, Marie-Eloise Leclair and Duan Asemota set up anchor Eliezer Adjibi to show his explosive pace in the final stretch, ensuring Canada left the southern Chinese city with the fastest time over two days of competition.

“I think this is a test and it shows how hard we work,” an elated Asemota said.

“We had been to the relay camp, we all sacrificed so many weeks of the year to get this relay right. We showed it on the track and with this medal. We did it.”

With pre-event favourites the United States absent from the final after fumbling their baton exchange in the heats, Jamaica took second in 40.44 seconds while Britain were third ahead of Australia, Italy and France, in 40.88 seconds.

The Americans defended their mixed 4x400m title and put down a marker before the world championships in Tokyo in September by winning with a championship-record time of 3:09.54, finishing in front of Australia and Kenya.

Akani Simbine came up with a late burst of speed to anchor South Africa to victory in the men’s 4x100m event, ensuring his team edged out the U.S. and Canada with a world-leading effort of 37.61 seconds.

There was more drama earlier as Jamaica’s men’s 4x100m team failed to book a place in Tokyo when a hamstring injury to Julian Forte in their second qualifying attempt proved costly, after they botched their baton exchange during Saturday’s heat.

It was smooth sailing for a relatively inexperienced British team with Nia Wedderburn-Goodison, Amy Hunt, Bianca Williams and Success Eduan staving off Jamaica and the U.S to win the women’s 4x100m race in 42.21 seconds, ahead of surprise package Spain who took second.

The Spanish 4x400m women’s team stunned defending champions and Paris gold medallists the U.S. with a time of 3:24.13, while South Africa sparkled in the men’s event with a world-leading time of 2:57.50.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallo)