37.78 and 41.70 in Gainesville: Lyles and Richardson anchor the fastest April relays ever
Three men's teams broke 38 seconds at the Tom Jones Memorial, Jordan Anthony ran 9.91 and the US women ran the fastest 4x100 ever recorded before June.
Photograph: Noah Lyles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, by Aeltegop, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida, a Continental Tour Challenger meeting, produced relay times on Saturday that do not usually appear until the championships. Gainesville Elite, with Jordan Anthony, Trayvon Bromell, Britain's 18-year-old Jake Odey-Jordan and Noah Lyles on anchor, ran 37.78 for the 4x100 m, the fastest time ever run in April. A USA team of Courtney Lindsey, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King and Max Thomas was second in 37.86 and a third quartet, with Christian Coleman and Ronnie Baker, ran 37.97. Three teams under 38 seconds in a meeting in the middle of April.
The women matched it. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Anavia Battle, Kayla White and Sha'Carri Richardson ran 41.70, the fastest 4x100 m ever recorded before June.
Anthony, the world indoor 60 m champion, won his 100 m in 9.91, a personal best, with Lindsey second in 10.02. Lyles had opened on Friday with 19.91 for 200 m, his first race at the distance since his fourth straight world title in Tokyo last September. Trevor Bassitt ran 47.82 in the 400 m hurdles and Canada's Christopher Morales-Williams beat Alison dos Santos over 400 m, 44.30 to 44.38. Michael Norman, the 2022 world 400 m champion, ran a relay leg in his first race since the Paris Olympics.
Two months of the outdoor season remain before anything counts. The Americans turned up in Florida already sharp, which was the point of being there.
Sources: World Athletics; USATF.
