CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN FIGHT FOR TICKET IN ATHLETICS IN BAHAMAS

NEWS

CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN FIGHT FOR TICKET IN ATHLETICS IN BAHAMAS

May 04, 2024

Ten countries from the Central American and Caribbean region are in the Bahamas to compete in the World Athletics Relay Championship, a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, an event scheduled for this weekend at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium in Nassau.

Among the member delegations of Centro Caribe Sports seeking a ticket to athletics in the relays at this summer’s Paris event are: Bahamas, the host country of this event; Barbados, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

The delegations of Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago in a men's relay competition in Santiago 2023, and will compete in Bahamas 2024. (Credit: Carlos Alonzo Batista) — _{The delegations of Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago in a men’s relay competition in Santiago 2023, and will compete in Bahamas 2024. (Credit: Carlos Alonzo Batista)}

The tournament will award direct tickets to the first two places of the four heats in the five events to be held this Saturday, May 4, and the qualification to the final of the event to be held on Sunday.

The other relay teams that do not get their ticket to Paris 2024, have a chance the following day in a sort of repechage, where the first two in each of the three heats of each event will win the ticket to the Olympic Games.

They will be competing in the 4×400 mixed, 4×400 men and women, and 4×100 men and women, in which two of the region’s delegations are registered in each event.

BAHAMAS, HOME OF THE WORLD RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

This will be the sixth edition of the World Athletics Relays World Championships that World Athletics has organized, four of them under the old name as IAAF World Relays, starting in 2014, and continuing in 2015, 2017 and this year, in Bahamas.

The other two versions, have been held in Yokohama, Japan, in 2019, and in Silesia, Poland, in 2021.

Thomas Augustus Robinson was a legendary sprinter from the Bahamas, who participated in four consecutive Summer Olympic Games (1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968), and won the gold medal in the 100 meters at the Central American and Caribbean Games, Kingston 1962, held in Jamaica.

THE CARIBBEAN FOOTPRINTS IN THE BAHAMAS

Seven of the 10 delegations competing in this edition of the World Athletics Relay Championships belong to the Caribbean, which indicates a high level of the Caribbean region in sprinting.

Of these, two teams, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, will be competing in the five events, seeking a ticket to Paris 2024.

_{Competition of the mixed 4xx400m relay at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, where several teams will be at Bahamas 2024. (Credit: Carlos Alonzo Batista)}

Among the athletes who have made their mark at these events in the Bahamas is Moore Islands native Steven Gardiner, who made his debut at the 2015 IAAF World Relay Championships, placing second on the men’s 4x400m relay team.

Also on the track will be Nasau native Devynne Charlton, the reigning world indoor champion in the 60-meter hurdles, who will be part of the women’s 4×100.

Home crowd about to go wild 😮‍💨

Watch out for the host nation in the mixed 4x400m at the #WorldRelays in the Bahamas 👀 pic.twitter.com/N4JY9vKY0p
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) April 29, 2024

Likewise, two-time Olympic champion and world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who took a break last year after becoming a mother, has returned to the oval and wants to give her people at home an Olympic ticket in this tournament.

Other figures who have been present at this magnificent World Athletics event include Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago, Natalia Linares of Colombia, Roxana Gómez and Yunisleidy García, both from Cuba, Paola Morán of Mexico, among others.

EVENTS OF THE MEMBER COUNTRIES OF CENTRO CARIBE SPORTS IN BAHAMAS 2024

NOC	EVENT
BAHAMAS	4X400m mixed; 4x100m W y M; 4x400m M
BARBADOS	4x400m M
COLOMBIA	4x400m mixto; 4x100m W y M; 4x400m W
CUBA	4x100m W y M; 4x400m W
GUYANA	4x400m mixed; 4x400m M
JAMAICA	4x400m mixed; 4x100m W y M; 4x400m W y M
MÉXICO	4x400m mixed; 4x400m M
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	4x400m mixed; 4x100m W y M; 4x400m W y M
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO	4x100m W y M; 4x400m M
VENEZUELA	4x400m M