Bedlam on the track with multiple falls and a DQ as a new event debuts at the World Indoor Champs.
The 4x400m medley relay made its debut at the World Indoor Championships on Saturday (March 21) but its future may now be under review after a chaotic race that saw several teams stumble and a number of athletes fall.
If you enjoy Wacky Races style fun, this was great. But for many of the athletes taking part, it must have been disappointing.
It was reminiscent of the 400m hurdle race held in a closed area a few years ago. great to watch, but only if you enjoy the unpredictable chaos on the track. Furthermore, many top athletes simply missed out on prioritizing their individual events.
Gold went to Belgium, who went 46.16 in the first leg thanks to Jonathan Sakour and were untroubled until Helena Ponet brought them home in 3:15.60 for 51.15.
The Spanish team were lucky to stay on their feet, but went from fourth place to second at the end of the first leg thanks to Blanca Hervas’ excellent anchor with 51.06 points.
Initially, Jamaica finished third, just ahead of the home team from Poland, but the Jamaicans were soon disqualified for impeding the American team at the end of the first round.
The first leg is where most of the carnage took place. If this was the athletics equivalent of Wacky Races, the character of Dick Dastardly was played by Dutchman Keenan Blake.
Blake, 23 and a former Dutch 200m indoor champion, has no shortage of experience. But after lining up on the outside line, he clipped the bell sharply and then went to ground on the back straight on his second lap – fading from third to fifth before swinging wide on the home straight and straight into the path of Spain’s Marquel Fernandez.
Then, trying to escape to pass his baton to team-mate Myrte van Der Schutt, he crashed.
However, Blake is hardly the only villain. In the first game for Jamaica, Delano Kennedy tried to pass the baton to teammate Shana Kay Anderson late in the first game, but she stuck her hand in front of American Jevon O’Bryant, causing American Sarah Reifenrath to fall and lose her shoe.
It also resulted in Jamaica being disqualified, which naturally delighted the home fans. Meanwhile, the Netherlands never got into the race after the first game, and the United States couldn’t get back into contention either.
“Before the race I knew it was going to be tight and it was,” said Polish rider Justyna Swieti-Ersetic. “There were pushes and shoves as well as falls. The battle was close to the end.”
The undoubted victory was for Belgium, with Sakour, Ilana Hansens, Julien Vatrin and Ponet staying out of danger as they eased to victory.
Sakur said: “We knew it was going to be a very tough race. All teams were very close at times. We knew a few would try to get an early lead, so I pushed hard in the first leg to get the team well positioned.
“I personally didn’t see what was happening behind me, but it was very confusing. We had a plan, we stuck to it, and it worked out well for us.”
