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Jeremiah Azu qualifies for the Olympic Men's 4x100m Relay Final
08/08/2024 00:00, In Blog / Track & Field /
Jeremiah Azu showed huge character to bounce back from his false start in the individual 100m to lead Great Britain’s 4x100m team into Friday night’s final.
Having false started in the 100m heats on Monday, the Cardiff Athletics man was selected to lead-off the GB challenge on Thursday morning as he took to the blocks on the first leg in their semi-final.
There were no problems with the start this time around as Azu exploded from the blocks, up against the likes of 2019 World 100m champion Christian Coleman, who was leading off the USA team.
Azu more than held his own as he ran an excellent leg before providing a smooth handover to team-mate Louis Hinchcliffe, who had pipped him to the UK 100m title earlier this summer.
Hinchcliffe handed on to Richard Kilty, who in turn passed on to Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, who crossed the line in third place to ensure GB’s place in the final behind the USA and South Africa.
GB’s time of 38.04 was a season’s best and made them the third fastest qualifiers overall for the final behind USA (37.47) and South Africa (37.94).
Speaking to the BBC after the heat, Azu said:
I got another chance to come out here with the guys.
It was a shame what happened, it's track and field, we learn and we move on.
I've still got a long career ahead of me so I'm going to use that pain to fuel me for the rest of my career.
I set up the guys nicely today and we qualified for the final which is the main thing, so we're all happy.
Where can we watch the action?
The men’s 4x100m final is due to start at 18.47 (UK time) on Friday evening.