Men’s 4x400m fails to qualify for Paris

THE quartet of Raheem Hayles, Jevaughn Powell, Kimar Farquharson and Tarees Rhoden, in running order, gave a brave effort but Jamaica's men's 4x400 metres relay team failed to qualify for this summer's Olympic Games in Paris after clocking 2:59.75 to win the event in the Bahamas last night.

Competing at the NACAC new Life Invitational World Athletics Continental Silver meet, the Jamaican team was seeking to better Zambia's 2:59.12 which was the 16th and final qualifying time going to the Games.

Running against Barbados and an All-Star team which included Jamaicans, the team made a gallant effort as Hayles gave them a very good start with Powell, his teammate at the University of Florida, running a solid second leg giving Farquharson a healthy lead on the third leg. For the remainder of the race the team ran against the clock but failed to go under the qualification mark. Barbados clocked 3:03.65 for second as the All-Star team failed to finish.

World Championships representative Ackera Nugent scored an impressive win on the night after capturing the women's 100m hurdles in 12.54 seconds, just two hundredths of a second outside her season's best. Charisma Taylor of hosts Bahamas was second in 12.83 with third going to Kylah Robinson of the United States n 13.07.

Javari Thomas had a fourth-place finish for Jamaica in the men's 200m in 20.62 seconds while Jahzeel Murphy was fifth in 20.63.

There was also a fourth-place finish for Charokee Young in the women's 400m after clocking 52.30 seconds. World Championships finalist Candice McLeod was sixth in 54.59. Another Jamaican, Damion Thomas, clocked 13.64 seconds to finish fifth in the men's 110m hurdles.