Churandy Martina anchors Team Americas to victory in the men's 4x100m in Split (© Getty Images)
That an allstar team of Tyson Gay, Wallace Spearmon, Churandy Martina and Daniel Bailey failed to break 38 seconds in the men’s 4x100m was quite a surprise, but given that they won by more than a second, it was a dominating performance nonetheless.
If any team would struggle with changeovers, it seemed as though it would be Team Americas as they had zero experience of running together as a team, whereas all of the other Continents were represented by national teams. But it was the national teams who struggled.
South Africa, representing Team Africa, had a scrappy first changeover, putting them out of the running from the outset. France, the European Champions with by individual 100m winner Christophe Lemaître, had a poor second exchange and completely messed up on the third, failing to bring the baton home.
US record-holder Gay ran a storming bend to give Team Americas an unassailable lead before handing over to anchor man Martina. The Netherlands Antilles national record-holder brought the baton home safely to clock 38.35, 1.03 ahead of Asia-Pacific (represented by Japan). South Africa clocked 39.82 in third.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
