Jamaica to wait for more World Relays medal

Jamaica will have to wait until 2025 to add to their World Relays medal tally as the World Athletic Council, yesterday, postponed the event, which was scheduled to be held in Guangzhou, China, in May 13-14.

The last World Relays was held in 2021, in Chorzow, Poland, which Jamaica's athletes failed to attend because of travel restrictions.

In 2019 in Yokohama, Japan, Jamaica had a three-medal haul and the postponement will delay the island's opportunity to improve the medal count, as the World Athletics Council has tentatively set April 2025 as the new date for the next staging.

The event has been held in odd years since 2015 after debuting in 2014 and yesterday, an agreement for the postponement was made after a meeting with the World Athletics Council, Guangzhou Organising Committee and Chinese Athletics Association. They cited the continued COVID-19 pandemic as the reason.

The decision will impact the qualification system for the relay events at next year's World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

The World Athletics Competition's Committee, upon approval of the World Athletics Council, has revised the qualification system to include the top eight teams from the World Athletics Championships that was held in Oregon, United States of America, last year, as well as the top eight from the performance list.

Jamaica won three silver medals at the World Relays in 2019 in Yokohama. These were garnered by the women's 4x100 and 4x200 metres along with the men's 4x400 metres.

Gayon Evans, Jonielle Smith, Shashalee Forbes and Natasha Morrison made up the 4x100 metres while Stephenie Ann McPherson, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce were the members of the women's 4x200 metres team.

The men's 4x400 metres quartet included Demish Gaye, Akeem Bloomfield, Rusheen McDonald and Nathon Allen.