England crash out of relay
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ByEurosport
Published 24/03/2006 at 10:30 GMT
England, Nigeria and Trinidad crashed out of the Commonwealth Games 4x100m relay in the heats on Friday as Jamaica eased into the final. The three highly-rated teams all had baton-change nightmares as Australia, New Zealand and Mauritius took advantage to
ATHLETICS 2006 Commonwealth Games - Melbourne England 4x100m (M) Mark Lewis-Francis Marlon Devonish
Image credit: Reuters
Mark Lewis-Francis made a mess of his handover with Marlon Devonish for the final leg for an England team comprising three of the four members of the Olympic-winning Great Britain side.
A distraught Darren Campbell said: "We rode on a bit of a high after the Olympics... it's a reality check for us. We're gutted.
"We will take everything that is thrown at us. Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger".
Campbell was also keen to ask 200m and 400m world record holder Michael Johnson - who had been criticising the attitude of British sprinters - for assistance, saying "it would be nice if he could come down and help the younger guys... I can't do this on my own".
Johnson himself saw where the problem lay on Friday:
"Marlon Devonish didn't run a fast third leg. Maybe Mark (Lewis-Francis) set his go mark too early, perhaps expecting Marlon to have run as fast as before.
"However Mark is at fault".
Disaster also struck for medal hopefuls Trinidad and Nigeria.
The powerful Trinidadian quartet, which featured 100m bronze medallist Marc Burns, also made a mess of their final exchange, as did the Nigerians, for whom Uchenna Emedolu, fourth in the 100m final, ran a powerful second leg.
Johnson was optimistic however, saying "it's only March and no-one's run any relays yet, apart from South Africa and Australia, and Jamaica who were here a month ago".
World-record holder Powell, accompanied by Michael Frater, Ainsley Waugh and Winston Smith, clocked the fastest time in the heats of 38.52 seconds with hosts Australia next with 38.57secs. Jamaica now enter the final as clear favourites.
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