They say timing is everything, and so the withdrawal of nine Jamaicans scheduled to run at this weekend’s IAAF World Relays just two days before the competition begins falls under the “suspicious" category given the timing. 

 

Most notable in the group is 2015 100m World leader Elaine Thompson (10.92) and Commonwealth Games 400 hurdles bronze medalist Janieve Russell, scheduled to compete in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, respectively. Both athletes represented the Kingston, Jamaica based UTech college at last weekend’s Penn Relays.

 

Fellow UTech teammates Julian Forte, Kemarley Brown, and Andrew Fisher have also withdrawn from the events in the Bahamas, just one week after the three ran in the winning 4x100 and 4x200 at the Penn Relays. The UTech men have the fastest 4x100 in the world in 2015, a 38.23 ran in late February. The absence of this group will surely leave Jamaica scrambling to find replacements in the 48 hours before the competition. Even with Usain Bolt on the roster, today’s announcement was a huge blow to Jamaica’s status as favorites in the sprint relays. 

 

The remaining four names that have removed their names from the World Relays roster are Shericka Jackson, Christania Williams, Andre Thomas, and Jeromia Riley. Jackson and Williams were slated to compete in the 4x400 and 4x100, respectively, while Thomas and Riley were on the 4x800 roster. 

Information from an article on trackalerts.com was used in this report.