Jamaica exacts revenge on U.S. at World Relays, without Usain Bolt

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Jamaica beat the U.S. in sprints on the final night of the IAAF World Relays, without Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in Nassau, Bahamas, on Sunday night.

Bolt, who anchored the Jamaican 4x100m team that was beaten by the U.S. on Saturday, sat out the 4x200m but was seen at the stadium wearing headphones and talking into a phone. Bolt reportedly sat out as a precaution due to a minor hamstring injury.

No matter, Jamaica still outsprinted the U.S. in the 4x200m, winning in 1:20.97. The Americans dropped the baton on the second exchange between Isiah Young and Curtis Mitchell. Anchor Justin Gatlin received the baton in seventh or eighth place and recovered to cross the finish line third before the U.S. was disqualified due to that failed exchange.

“I didn’t even know we dropped the baton,” said Gatlin, the world’s fastest man in the 100m and 200m last season. “I saw the deficit we had. I just wanted to make up as much ground as we possibly can and still get on the medal stand.”

The U.S. women didn’t drop the baton in the 4x100m, but anchor Carmelita Jeter finished .18 shy of Jamaican veteran Veronica Campbell-Brown. Allyson Felix ran the second leg for the U.S. and was passed by Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye before Kimberlyn Duncan and Jeter took the stick.

“I was doing my best to try and hold it and do some work, but I just didn’t feel as sharp as I normally am,” said Felix, who collided with Jeneba Tarmoh in the 4x200m relay Saturday.

The U.S. also swept the men’s and women’s 4x400m, the women’s 4x800m and broke the world record in the men’s distance medley relay.

Olympic 400m champions Jeremy Wariner (2004) and LaShawn Merritt (2008) ran the final two legs for the U.S. men in the 4x400m. The Americans prevailed in 2:58.43, edging the Bahamas by .48.

“I said yesterday it was a great step in the right direction,” said Wariner, 31, who also ran in the 4x400m heats Saturday and is looking to rebound from finishing sixth in the 400m at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials and last in his heat at the 2013 U.S. Championships. “Today is an even bigger step.”

In the women’s 4x400m, Phyllis Francis, Natasha Hastings, Sanya Richards-Ross and Francena McCorory clocked 3:19.39 to win by 3.1 seconds over Jamaica. Notably, the Olympic 400m champion Richards-Ross split 48.79 seconds. McCorory, the only woman to run faster than Richards-Ross in 2014, split 49.27 on anchor, albeit with a comfortable lead built from the first three legs.

Richards-Ross, who was born in Jamaica and moved to the U.S. before high school, took pleasure in competing in a Caribbean nation.

“When I first started running for the U.S., sometimes I thought the Jamaicans were really upset, but now they’ve really started to embrace me again,” the 30-year-old said. “I kind of feel like I’m enjoying my twilight years in track and field.”

In the women’s 4x800m, Chanelle Price, Maggie Vessey, Molly Beckwith and Alysia Montano won in 8:00.62, a 10.74-second margin over second-place Poland. The U.S. breezed in the non-Olympic relay without its three fastest 800m runners from 2014 — Ajee’ Wilson, Brenda Martinez and Laura Roesler.

The U.S. men’s distance medley relay team of Kyle Merber (1200m leg), Brycen Spratling (400m), Brandon Johnson (800m) and Ben Blankenship (1600m) broke the world record by .06 by clocking 9:15.50. Of that quartet, only Johnson has competed at a World Championships or Olympics. They beat Kenya, the previous world-record holder, by 1.7 seconds.

The track and field season continues with the start of the Diamond League on May 15 in Doha, Qatar.

Justin Gatlin: I’m the guy to beat right now

French Open: Iga Swiatek rolls toward possible Coco Gauff rematch

Iga Swiatek
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Iga Swiatek reached the French Open third round without dropping a set, eyeing a third Roland Garros title in four years. Not that she needed the help, but Swiatek’s immediate draw is wide open after the rest of the seeds in her section lost.

Swiatek dispatched 102nd-ranked American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday, the same score as her first-round win. She gets 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China in the round of 32.

The other three seeds in Swiatek’s section all lost in the first round, so the earliest that the world No. 1 could play another seed is the quarterfinals. And that would be No. 6 Coco Gauff, who was runner-up to Swiatek last year.

Gauff plays her second-round match later Thursday against 61st-ranked Austrian Julia Grabher. Gauff also doesn’t have any seeds in her way before a possible Swiatek showdown.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Swiatek, who turned 22 on Wednesday, came into this year’s French Open without the invincibility of a year ago, when she was 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her last pre-French Open match with a right thigh injury, but said it wasn’t serious. That diagnosis appears to have been spot-on through two matches this week, though her serve was broken twice in the first set of each match.

While the men’s draw has been upended by 14-time champion Rafael Nadal‘s pre-event withdrawal and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev‘s loss in the first round, the top women have taken care of business.

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan also reached the third round without dropping a set.

Though all of them have beaten Swiatek in 2023, the Pole remains the favorite to lift the trophy a week from Saturday. She can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

She can also become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

Swiatek doesn’t dwell on it.

“I never even played Serena or Monica Seles,” she said. “I’m kind of living my own life and having my own journey.”

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Penny Oleksiak to miss world swimming championships

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Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak of Canada will miss July’s world swimming championships because she does not expect to be recovered enough from knee and shoulder injuries.

“The bar that we set was, can she be as good as she’s ever been at these world championships?” coach Ryan Mallette said in a press release. “We just don’t feel like we’re going to be ready to be 100 percent yet this summer. Our focus is to get her back to 100 percent as soon as possible to get ready for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Oleksiak, who owns the Canadian record of seven Olympic medals (across all sports), missed Canada’s trials meet for worlds two months ago due to the injuries. She was still named to the team at the time in hope that she would be ready in time for worlds.

The 22-year-old returned to competition last month at a Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona, after which she chose to focus on continued rehab rather than compete at worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Swimming at Mare Nostrum was a checkpoint for worlds, and I gave it my best shot,” Oleksiak said in the release. “We reviewed my swims there, and it showed me the level I want to get back to. Now I need to focus on my rehab to get back to where I want to be and put myself in position to be at my best next season.”

Oleksiak had knee surgery last year to repair a meniscus. After that, she developed a left shoulder injury.

In 2016, Oleksiak tied for Olympic 100m freestyle gold with American Simone Manuel. She also earned 100m butterfly silver in Rio and 200m free bronze in Tokyo, along with four relay medals between those two Games.

At last year’s worlds, she earned four relay medals and placed fourth in the 100m free.

She anchored the Canadian 4x100m free relay to silver behind Australia at the most recent Olympics and worlds.

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