Tokyo, Japan – Jamaica’s vaunted 4x100m men’s team crashed out in the heats in spectacular fashion on Day eight of the Tokyo World Athletics Championship. Coming with a season’s best of 37.80 seconds, Jamaica was expected to challenge for gold; they only had the small matter of qualifying for the final.
Drawn in a heat with the United States and Canada, Jamaica fielded, on paper, a strong team which included the gold and silver medallists from the men’s 100m final and Ackeem Blake, who made the semifinals.
The team was led off by Blake, who ran a 10.49 split while handing over to Oblique, who blasted the back straight in 8.89 seconds. Ryiem Forde, in his first outing with any Jamaica relay team this season, coasted around the top bend in 9.64 seconds. However, unfortunately, Forde was not able to make a successful exchange with Thompson as the baton fell. It was a major disappointment for Jamaica, considering the challenges they had to overcome to make the World Championship qualification mark, which they achieved at the London Diamond League on July 19, 2025. It was the third time this season that Jamaica’s senior men’s 4x100m team failed to finish a relay. The other two occasions occurred at the World Relays in Guangzhou, China.
