Twanisha Terry Holds Off Charging Shericka Jackson To Eke Out Victory For U.S. Women In 4x100 Relay Final

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE — The U.S. men and the Jamaican women dominated the sprint events at the Oregon22 World Championships, but none of that went to form in Saturday's 4x100-meter relay finals. 

The U.S. women front-loaded its lineup with recent collegiate stars Melissa Jefferson and Abby Steiner to build a lead over Jamaica, and Jenna Prandini and Twanisha Terry withstood the pressure of 100-meter champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and 200-meter gold medalist Shericka Jackson. 

Terry, running for her life against the on-rushing Jackson, got the finish line first, 41.14 to 41.18.

“You could have the four fastest women, but if you don’t have chemistry and the baton doesn’t move through the exchange zone, then what are you doing?” Terry said.

The winning time was the fifth-fastest ever by any squad globally, including No. 3 in U.S. history and the fastest ever produced on American soil. 

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With another silver, Fraser-Pryce now has a gold and two silvers in these championships and 14 career medals from World finals, tying her for second all-time with fellow Jamaican legend Usain Bolt. 

The U.S. men, competing without gold medalist Fred Kerley and bronze medalist Trayvon Bromell, ran up against a motivated and hungry Canadian team and a couple of rough baton exchanges spelled trouble. 

The two teams were running even when Elijah Hall's pass to Marvin Bracy slowed a bit of the U.S. team's momentum. That was all Andre DeGrasse needed to outrun Bracy to the finish line. 

Canada ran a national record 37.48 and the U.S. finished in 37.55.

"Of course we wanted gold," Lyles said. "This is a really good team, but we didn't get to show our best ability. We still went out there and put it together. We won silver. I am actually pretty happy with that. It's not about gold every day. We got the stick around."

Canada won its first world title in the men's 4x100 relay since the 1995 and 1997 teams did it. 

"It feels great to end my championship like this," said DeGrasse, who pulled out of the men's 200 meters to save himself for the relay after a recent bout of COVID-19 and lingering foot injury. "These guys put in the work to put me in position to contend. So for me, I was just like don't mess this up."

In the men's 800-meter final, Emmanuel Korir of Kenya, a former standout for UTEP, became the first man to follow an Olympic title with a World Championships gold the following year. 

Korir ran 1:43.71 and outkicked the field in the final 100 meters. 

"It's been a long wait. I failed in 2017 and 2019 and I made it now," Korir said. "I am happy. I want to stay on the podium next year and also in Paris."

Algeria's Djamel Sedjati took silver with 1:44.14 and Canada's Marco Arop got bronze in 1:44.28.

Six women were still together around the final turn of the women's 5,000 meters, but Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay sped past defending champion Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands and ran to the win in 14:46.29. 

The top six were separated by less than two seconds. 

Kenya's Beatrice Chebet got silver and Ethiopia's Dawit Seyoum earned bronze. 

It was a tough race for the U.S. Elise Cranny, the world leader coming in, finished ninth in 14:59.99 and teammate Karissa Schweizer was hobbled by a calf injury late in the race in did not finish. Emily Infeld was 14th. 

Portugal's national hero, Pedro Pablo Pichardo, followed his Olympic Games victory with a world championship in the men's triple jump. The Olympic silver (Zhu Yaming) and bronze (Hugues Fabrice Zango) medalists swapped places. 

Pichardo had a best mark of 58-10.75 (17.95m) and had the three longest jumps of the competition. 

Zango, of Burkina Faso, jumped 57-7 (17.55m) on his first attempt and Yaming couldn't match it, finishing with a best of 56-9.50 (17.31m). 

American Donald Scott was sixth, one spot behind Oregon's Emanuel Ihemeje, representing Italy. Will Claye was 11th.  

An exciting 400 meters to conclude the final day of the decathlon turned the event on its head. Olympic champion Damian Warner of Canada, the leader through four events, pulled up 150 meters into the race with an apparent hamstring injury and did not finish. 

Meanwhile, NCAA champion Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas, representing Puerto Rico, blasted through the 400 with a time of 45.07 and moved into the lead through five events with 4,606 points. It marked the second-fastest 400 ever produced by a decathlete, trailing only a 45.00 effort by Ashton Eaton in 2015 in Beijing.

Zach Ziemek of the U.S. is third with 4,469 points and Kyle Garland is fourth with 4,413.  

Allyson Felix returned to Hayward Field a week after her would-be farewell in the mixed 4x400 relay, and helped the U.S. women advance to Sunday's final of the 4x400 relay (3:23.38). She ran the fastest relay split on the team. The U.S. men also safely advanced, with 400-meter hurdles silver medalist Trevor Bassitt handling the anchor leg duties. 

In the heats of the women's 100-meter hurdles, two of the four Americans advanced to the semfinals. Alia Armstrong (12.48) and Keni Harrison (12.60) are through to Sunday's semis, but Alaysha Johnson and Nia Ali both hit hurdles and were eliminated. 

Tobi Amusan of Nigeria ran an African record 12.40 to post the fastest time in the heats.