Russians Win Gold

The Russian quartet of Yuliya Pechonkina, Olesya Krasnomovets, Natalya Antyukh and Svetlana Pospelova took gold in 3min20.95sec with Jamaica in silver two and half seconds down and Great Britain taking bronze.

After the disqualification of the Americans in the semi-final for a lane infringement it was clear barring disaster the Russians would have little trouble reclaiming the title they last won in Seville 1999.

Led off in lane five by 400m hurdles gold Pechonkina she gave Krasnomovets a slender lead over Britain’s Lee McConnell from Jamaican Shericka Williams. At the break Jamaica had overtaken the GB squad with Poland closing fast. Out in front Krasnomovets was laying the foundations of a Russian victory. Behind there was a tremendous scrap brewing between Novlene Williams JAM, Donna Fraser GBR and Monika Bejnar POL.

Antyukh went through the motions on the third leg consolidating the lead and handing over to 400m fourth placer Pospelova for the lap of honour. Jamaica’s Lorraine Fenton looked safe in second but on the final lap Christine Ohuruogu GBR was having a tremendous tussle with 400m hurdler Anna Jesien POL for bronze. At the entry to the final straight the Briton moved out to force Jesien wide giving her a few precious centimetres to work with, a lead she maintained to the line. Despite the disappointment of missing out on a medal the Poland squad had the consolation of setting a national record of 3:24.49.

The Russian women were a class apart in the heats of the women’s 4x400 relay as they ran a world-leading 3:20.32 in the opening heat to lead all qualifiers for tomorrow’s final.   The team of Olga Krasnomovets, Natalya Antyukh, Tatyana Firova, and Oleysa Zykina lead from start to finish.  Of note was Antyukh’s unofficial 49.3. 

Behind the Russians, the Polish quartet, thanks to a critical third leg by Grazyna Prokopek, overtook the German team with 650 metres left and finished second in 3:26.04. 

The Germans fell further back on the final lap, being pipped right before the finish by Ilona Usovich, who brought her Belarus team home third in 3:27.65.  The German squad clocked 3:27.96, still fast enough to take one of the time-qualifying spots. 

The second section appeared to have been won by the US team, but that squad was later disqualified for a lane violation by one of the first two runners.     

This moved the British women into the first position in the heat with a time of 3:26.19. 

Even before the race had been finished, a collision involving Jamaican and Brazilian runners scrambled the positions going into the final carry.    While the Jamaicans were becoming untangled, the final Brazilian runner—Lucimar Teodoro—sailed onward and successfully held off Nataliya Pyhyda running for Ukraine. 

The final 3:26.82 clocking for Brazil was a South American record, as Ukraine was timed in 3:27.23. 

Lorraine Fenton, not realizing that the US team would be disqualified, made a futile scramble to move her team forward, but the Jamaicans easily took the other time-qualifying place in the final with 3:27.87.