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Blessing Okagbare added another impressive result to what has become a superb sprint season, clocking 10.63 for 100m at the Nigerian Championships in Lagos on Thursday (17).
The wind reading was 2.7m/s, so above the limit allowed for record purposes, but the result places Okagbare joint second on the world all-time list for performances achieved under all conditions.
Only world record-holder Florence Griffith Joyner has ever gone quicker, while Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also ran 10.63 in Kingston just earlier this month.
These performances in Olympic year add to the 10.72 run by Sha'Carri Richardson in April and the 10.78 by Elaine Thompson-Herah in May, plus the wind-assisted 10.74 (2.2m/s) by Cambrea Sturgis as part of her sprint double at the NCAA Championships last weekend.
In Lagos, Okagbare fell to the track in delight when she saw her time. The Olympic and world medallist had earlier clocked 10.99 in the semifinals and ran 10.90 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha at the end of last month.
Rosemary Chukwuma was second in 11.07 and Grace Nwokocha third in 11.11 in that&nbsp;Nigerian Championships race.
The men&rsquo;s 100m was won by Enoch Adegoke in a PB of 10.00 (1.2m/s). 
<h3>Asian record for Mahmoud</h3>
Bahrain&rsquo;s Abdelrahman Mahmoud threw 21.15m to break the Asian shot put record at the Arab Championships in Rades, Tunisia. That mark improves on his previous outdoor best of 20.68m, while he threw an Asian indoor record of 21.10m in January.
Over in Italy, Jerry Motsau ran 7:40.99 to break the South African 3000m record at the Meeting Citt&agrave; di Nembro on Thursday (17). He held off Italy&rsquo;s European 10,000m bronze medallist Yeman Crippa, who finished second in 7:41.41, while Purity Gitonga won the women&rsquo;s 3000m in 8:50.51.

Blessing Okagbare added another impressive result to what has become a superb sprint season, clocking 10.63 for 100m at the Nigerian Championships in Lagos on Thursday (17).

Okagbare runs wind-assisted 10.63 100m in Lagos

Today (18) marks the 60th anniversary of the first of six high jump world records set by Siberian Valeriy Brumel during a remarkable career which was sadly cut short at 23 years of age due to a motorbike accident.
Brumel, the 1964 Olympic champion, raised the world record bar from 2.23m to 2.28m from 1961 to 1963. 
<h2>No Flop</h2>
For several decades now, every elite high jumper has utilised the 'Fosbury Flop'. But there was a time, prior to the introduction of the revolutionary back layout in the late 1960s, when a variety of different techniques were in use.
The 'Eastern Cut-Off' was a more sophisticated version of the basic 'Scissors' style, but that was largely superseded by the 'Western Roll', as used by George Horine of the USA when claiming the inaugural IAAF world record in 1912 with 2.00m, and the 'Straddle', the first outstanding exponent of what was also termed the 'Belly Roll' being another American, Dave Albritton, co-holder of the world record with 2.07m in 1936.
It was the 'Straddle' which held sway until the Fosbury era over 30 years later, and a landmark performance occurred in 1956 when Charley Dumas cleared 2.15m, the first man to jump 7 feet. 
<h2>Olympic silver at 18</h2>
The record crept up a centimetre at a time until, at the 1960 US Olympic Trials, 19-year-old John Thomas improved all the way from 2.18m to 2.22m. The overwhelming favourite to win at the Rome Games, Thomas could manage only 2.14m in third place behind two Soviet athletes: Robert Shavlakadze from Georgia and the precocious Siberian-born Valeriy Brumel.
<img style="width: 350px; height: 495px; margin-left: 20px;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60cbcdf3fa102b29c4d45307.jpg" alt="Valeriy Brumel" align="right" />
Shavlakadze won on countback at 2.16m but it was a notable international debut by Brumel, the European record-holder at 2.17m and aged only 18.
Coached since the start of 1960 by former pole vaulter Vladimir Dyachkov, author of a 300-page book on high jumping, Brumel's progress that season had been startling. From a best of just 2.01m, ranking him around 70th in the world in 1959, he improved literally by leaps and bounds ... 2.08m in May, 2.17m in August, 2.18m in September, 2.19m and 2.20m in October.
Only one man in the event's history (Thomas) had ever gone higher, but in January 1961 Brumel surpassed him by clearing 2.25m off a dirt surface indoors in Leningrad. That did not count as an officially ratified world record, but it did not take long for Brumel, now 19 and still a junior, to rectify that. He was ready to become the first male high jumper in history to set six world records.
The PE student's first record was set in Moscow's Lenin Stadium on 18 June 1961. He overcame a crisis at 2.08m, clearing only at his final attempt, before relaxing with flawless successes at every height up to and including 2.23m. He even had two good tries out of three with the bar at 2.30m, a height which no one would clear until Dwight Stones did so in 1973. 
<h2>Training intensity</h2>
The contrast between the training programmes of Brumel (1.85m tall, weighing 80kg) and Thomas (1.96m and 88kg) &ndash; was immense. Thomas would weight train just once a week and worked out for three or four days a week for nine months of the year.&nbsp;
Under the revolutionary coaching methods of Dyachkov, Brumel would train for two hours every day the whole year round. In January 1960 he lifted almost 9000kg of weights as well as making 310 jumps at 1.85m. He reached a maximum weights total of close to 11,000kg in June before tapering off and concentrating more on his jumping: 100 leaps over 2.10m in August. Jumping for height and style occupied only about 14% of training time. Psychology played a large part too in his preparation. 
<h2>More records and Olympic laurels</h2>
Among his greatest admirers was Romania's queen of high jumping, Iolanda Balas, who said Brumel &ldquo;has shown such perseverance in training and his calmness in competition is so astonishing that I shall not be surprised to hear that he has achieved a new record."&nbsp;
<img style="width: 350px; height: 519px; margin-left: 20px;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60cbcdd4fa102b29c4d45304.jpg" alt="Valeriy Brumel" align="right" />
That second record, 2.24m on 16 July, was again achieved at the Lenin Stadium ... only this time in a high-pressure match between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Spurred on by his home crowd and the presence of his American rival, Thomas, and ignoring the rain that fell throughout the contest, he jumped 2.05m, 2.10m, 2.13m, 2.16m and 2.19m first time and with Thomas unable to go higher than 2.19m Brumel's successful third try at 2.24m brought him a cherished victory as well as the record.
He did not rest on his laurels for long. Again at his final attempt he straddled over 2.25m with daylight to spare at the International Student Games in Sofia on 31 August, thus equalling the unprecedented height he had achieved indoors at the start of his momentous year.
Brumel would go on to scale even greater heights in 1962 (2.26m at Stanford in the USA v USSR match and 2.27m in Moscow) and 1963 (2.28m again versus the Americans in Moscow).
He must have clinched the title of &lsquo;world's greatest ever high jumper&rsquo; when after his silver medal in Rome he struck gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, winning on countback against Thomas at a modest 2.18m after twice clearing 2.24m earlier in the season.&nbsp;&nbsp;
It appeared to be business as usual at the start of 1965. He topped the world indoor list with 2.21m, but the big heights eluded him outdoors. His best was merely 2.19m whereas China's Ni Chihchin (born on 14 April 1942, the exact same day as Brumel!) jumped 2.25m. 
<h2>29 operations!&nbsp;</h2>
That was the least of Brumel's worries, for in Moscow on 6 October 1965 he was involved in a serious road accident. He was riding pillion on a friend's motorbike when, rounding a sharp bend, it skidded out of control. He was flung off and the machine toppled across his right leg, resulting in multiple fractures. Amputation was considered but the doctors decided the leg could be saved by surgery.
"Lucky it's not my left leg, the one from which I drive off," Brumel commented.
Realistically, at the age of just 23, his fabulous career was over ... but that was to ignore Brumel's resolve. "I'll return to the jumping sector no matter what it costs me." And so, he did.&nbsp;
Brumel was lucky ever to be able to walk again but after years of monumental struggle, including 29 operations and countless setbacks, he did high jump again ... miraculously clearing 2.06m in 1970, and still holder of the world record. That really was the last word in terms of high jumping but he went on to forge a successful career as a writer.
Brumel died in Moscow on 26 January 2003, aged 60.&nbsp;
Mel Watman for World Athletics Heritage

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the first of six high jump world records set by Siberian Valeriy Brumel during a remarkable career which was sadly cut short at 23 years of age due to a motorbike accident.

Celebrating brilliant Brumel's six high jump world records

Germany&rsquo;s Niklas Kaul and Carolin Schafer will be among the athletes looking to secure their Olympic spots when the World Athletics Challenge &ndash; Combined Events moves on to the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting on 19-20 June.
The qualification period for combined events ends on 29 June, with the standards being 8350 points for the decathlon and 6420 points for the heptathlon.
<h3>Decathletes look to make their mark</h3>
Kaul has the standard for Tokyo thanks to his 8691-point PB to win the world title in Doha in 2019, but having decided not to compete in 2020, and following the elbow surgery he underwent that year, the 23-year-old is keen to make a statement and prove his form in Ratingen. He returned to decathlon action for the first time since Doha in G&ouml;tzis, scoring 8263 to finish fifth.
His compatriot Kai Kazmirek, the 2017 world bronze medallist, is another who has the standard from 2019 having scored 8444 to win in Ratingen and will be looking to get close to that to secure a spot for Tokyo.
Also among those fighting for places on Germany&rsquo;s Olympic team will be 2016 world indoor heptathlon bronze medallist Mathias Brugger, who set his PB of 8304 points in 2018, and Tim Nowak, whose best is 8229 from 2018.
As well as the 11 athletes competing on home soil, the event will feature nine international decathletes including Ukraine&rsquo;s 2009 world bronze medallist Oleksiy Kasyanov, Japan&rsquo;s Asian champion Keisuke Ushiro and Sweden&rsquo;s Fredrik Samuelsson.
<h3>Schafer returns</h3>
Although she also has the Tokyo standard with the 6426-point score she achieved in 2019, 2017 world heptathlon silver medallist Schafer had been planning to compete in G&ouml;tzis in May to demonstrate her form. However, on social media the 29-year-old &ndash; who set her lifetime best of 6836 in 2017 &ndash; explained how unexpected vaccination side effects had disrupted her preparation.
She will instead line up in Ratingen, where she will be joined by Austrian record-holder Verena Mayr, who won world bronze in 2019 as Verena Preiner, and Austria&rsquo;s world indoor pentathlon silver medallist Ivona Dadic, who both have the Tokyo entry standard from 2019.
Others with the standard in their sights will be Germany&rsquo;s European U23 silver medallist Sophie Weissenberg and Vanessa Grimm, who set a PB of 6316 points to finish fifth in G&ouml;tzis at the end of last month.
World Athletics

Germany’s Niklas Kaul and Carolin Schafer will be among the athletes looking to secure their Olympic spots when the World Athletics Challenge – Combined Events moves on to the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting on 19-20 June.

Kaul and Schafer target Tokyo in Ratingen

Keturah Orji has a skill for making history in Olympic seasons. Five years ago the eight-time NCAA champion leapt 14.53m to break the 12-year-old US triple jump record and went on to improve that mark to 14.71m at the Games in Rio. Her fourth place there, just three centimetres off a medal, was the highest ever Olympic Games finish by a US athlete in the event. On to 2021 and Orji opened in the triple jump by leaping 14.92m to regain the national record, after it had been taken to 14.84m by Tori Franklin in 2018.
Now, as the Atlanta Track Club athlete prepares for the US Olympic Team Trials starting Friday (18), her focus is on securing a place for her second Games where she could well make history yet again.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard to grasp, I don&rsquo;t think about it often,&rdquo; says the 25-year-old on how it feels to be a history maker. &ldquo;When people say &lsquo;no one has jumped further than you in the history of America&rsquo;, that sounds crazy. But it is an honour to be creating this path for any other person that wants to follow down the same route and be a triple jumper too.&rdquo;
But it is not only future athletes Orji hopes to inspire, or just within athletics that she shares her knowledge. With a degree in financial planning and a master&rsquo;s degree in sport management &amp; policy, she also writes blog posts on topics including financial advice and at college she launched a mentoring programme for eighth-grade girls in Athens, Georgia, where she was then based.
&ldquo;Representation is extremely important to me,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Especially being a woman of colour, there are a lot of times when you are looking for a role model, and there&rsquo;s no one that looks like you. So, I just think it&rsquo;s important to have people that represent all races, genders, all types of people in positions of power, especially, so that younger people will know that they can also be in those positions and they can really strive for those same areas of success.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/e1e0bd28-ca93-4a46-8239-080773f1c635.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="612" /> Keturah Orji competes at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (&copy; Getty Images)
 When it comes to her own role models, Orji has looked to her mother (&ldquo;her faith in God and the way she lives her life, the way she cares about others&rdquo;) and tennis star Serena Williams. In athletics, she admires four-time world long jump champion Brittney Reese, who is now among her training partners under coach Jeremy Fischer in California.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing to be able to train with her,&rdquo; says Orji of Reese. &ldquo;She is so competitive and really strong when she trains. You can just tell she is very experienced and knows how to handle competition and so it is amazing that I used to look up to her and now I am training with her.&rdquo;
Having started out as a gymnast, Orji took up athletics in her freshman year of high school and soon after claimed two medals &ndash; long jump silver and triple jump bronze &ndash; at the 2013 World Athletics U18 Championships in Donetsk. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I realised that this could be an event I could do in the future and go to college for, and it really became more reality that I would be doing this long-term,&rdquo; she explains.
Since then, Orji has also improved her long jump best to a mark of 6.85m when making her season debut in April and she will be contesting both events at the US Trials. Her focus for Tokyo, however, is on the triple jump &ndash; an event in which she is currently ranked fourth this season behind Yulimar Rojas (15.43m), Shanieka Ricketts (14.98m) and Liadagmis Povea (14.93m).
&ldquo;It was really exciting to get the American record back because it was something that I had previously, then it had been broken, and I had been working to get it back,&rdquo; she says reflecting on her 14.92m leap, also achieved in April. &ldquo;It was a 20-centimetre PB and just something that I had been waiting for, for a long time. I jumped 14.72m in Paris in 2019 but that was only one centimetre better (than her previous best).
&ldquo;So it had been quite some time and I think it means even more this time to break it than it did the first time.&rdquo;
On having that domestic competition, she adds: &ldquo;It does help having Tori (Franklin) and there&rsquo;s another American triple jumper that has the standard, Jasmine Moore. It&rsquo;s just so exciting to have three women with the standard again in Olympic year.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60ca78fbe70456a97a3e761e.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="606" /> Silver medallist Keturah Orji with Florentina Marincu and Natalia Chacinska at the 2013 World U18 Championships&nbsp;(&copy; Getty Images)
 When it comes to numbers, unsurprisingly 15 metres in the triple jump and seven metres in the long jump are the figures at the forefront of Orji&rsquo;s mind, but she is also focused on longevity.
&ldquo;For any jumper, those are really the two barriers that, if you eclipse them, it&rsquo;s seen as amazing and really successful, so that&rsquo;s the place I&rsquo;m at right now,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But if I achieve those, then I will obviously push the barrier even further.
&ldquo;I think the Olympics and all the meets that I have been to are all just a part of the journey,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;Obviously we all want to reach the place where we can win an Olympic or world medal, but sometimes that doesn&rsquo;t happen so I have to just enjoy the journey and the process, and everything that I learn, the mistakes I make, it all helps me to be the person that I will be in the future.&rdquo;
But with a nickname of &lsquo;KO&rsquo;, to deliver a knockout jump at the Olympics would be a fine way for that journey to continue.
&ldquo;I know that my name is a little bit more difficult to pronounce &ndash; Keturah Orji is not a common name at all &ndash; so it&rsquo;s easier for people to call me &lsquo;KO&rsquo;,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;Then, on top of that, my hashtag is &lsquo;#KOtheCOMP&rsquo;, so &lsquo;knock out the competition&rsquo;, and I feel like that stuck with people.
&ldquo;Winning a medal in Tokyo would be so amazing,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, again it&rsquo;s hard to grasp, because obviously everyone puts that on their list of goals. It would be an honour because there are so many people who work towards that and are never able to actually get there, so to be a part of that small club would be amazing.&rdquo;
Historic, some might say.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Keturah Orji has a skill for making history in Olympic seasons. 

Orji ready to deliver the KO

Lilian Kasait Rengeruk and Hellen Obiri secured their Tokyo Olympic Games places by finishing in the top two of a women's 5000m final which saw four women dip under 15 minutes at the Kenyan Championships in Nairobi on Thursday (17).
On the first day of action at the Kasarani Stadium, the session got under way with Rengeruk running 14:52.18 for victory as a total of seven athletes finished under the Olympic qualifying standard of 15:10.00.
A group of eight had remained together until the pack approached the final lap, when five athletes &ndash; led by Rengeruk and Obiri &ndash; started to move away. Rengeruk picked up the pace with Obiri in pursuit, but the 2017 world cross country bronze medallist managed to hold off two-time world 5000m champion Obiri down the home straight. Obiri finished second in 14:52.51.
Two-time world 10,000m bronze medallist Agnes Tirop was just behind them, clocking 14:53.91, and world 5000m silver medallist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi also went sub-15:00 with 14:58.61 to finish fourth. World U20 champion Beatrice Chebet was fifth in 15:01.86.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect to win. I thank God for victory and good health,&rdquo; Rengeruk told Athletics Kenya. &ldquo;The race was tactical. I didn&rsquo;t have many races (in the lead-up) but my preparation was uninterrupted. My wish is to work as a team in Tokyo to ensure we deliver podium finishes.&rdquo;
Joining her in Japan will be Obiri, who made her half marathon debut with a 1:04:51 performance in Istanbul in April and in Nairobi explained how she may switch her focus to road races after this year.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m satisfied with my second place finish, what matters most was to finish in the top two,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I will go back and work hard in training to ensure I do well in Tokyo.&rdquo;
<h2> Kipyegon wins 1500m</h2>
Faith Kipyegon remains on track for an Olympic title defence as she comfortably won the 1500m trials race in 4:02.10, with African champion Winny Chebet also claiming a team place thanks to her runner-up finish and Edinah Jebitok placing third. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60cb6809d8449efc31aebae8.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" /> Faith Kipyegon on her way to 1500m victory at the Kenyan Championships&nbsp;(&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
 &ldquo;My focus is to defend my Olympic title in Tokyo,&rdquo; said Kipyegon, also the 2017 world gold medallist. &ldquo;It was a really good race here, which I really wanted to win. I know I will meet many good athletes in Tokyo but I have prepared really well.&rdquo;
The men&rsquo;s 100m saw Ferdinand Omanyala improve on the Kenyan record with a time of 10.02 (1.5m/s), with Mark Otieno second in 10.05 to also achieve the Olympic qualifying time.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Lilian Kasait Rengeruk and Hellen Obiri secured their Tokyo Olympic Games places by finishing in the top two of a women's 5000m final which saw four women dip under 15 minutes at the Kenyan Championships in Nairobi on Thursday (17).

Rengeruk and Obiri claim Tokyo 5000m places at Kenyan Championships

<div>
<a href="#JPN">Japanese/日本語</a>
In the latest in our &lsquo;seven wonders&rsquo; series, we turn our attention&nbsp;to&nbsp;the most recent global athletics event staged in&nbsp;Japan:&nbsp;the&nbsp;World Athletics Relays Yokohama 2019.&nbsp;
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<h2>&nbsp; Setting the&nbsp;scene&nbsp;</h2>
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The fourth edition of the World Athletics Relays was&nbsp;awarded to Yokohama, Japan after&nbsp;The Bahamas dropped out of staging the event for financial reasons. It was the first time the event had taken place outside of the Caribbean nation who had staged the first three versions of the event in Nassau (2014, 2015 and 2017). The 2019 World Relays took place inside the Yokohama International Stadium on&nbsp;11-12&nbsp;May. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60cb0dab057cd74a212bbb28.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="635" />
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<h2>Broken&nbsp;records&nbsp;</h2>
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<div>
A record-breaking 43 countries entered the 2019 edition of the World Athletics Relays&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;one more than the previous record set at the 2015 edition.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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<div>
Four countries also claimed their maiden&nbsp;victory&nbsp;at the World Relays: France, Brazil, Poland and Trinidad &amp; Tobago. South Africa (second&nbsp;in the men&rsquo;s 4x200m) and Italy (third&nbsp;in the women&rsquo;s 4x400m) also&nbsp;achieved up their first&nbsp;top-three finish&nbsp;at a World Relays.
&nbsp;
<h2>Headline&nbsp;acts&nbsp;</h2>
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<div>
In the three previous editions of the World Relays, the US had won gold in each and&nbsp;every&nbsp;men&rsquo;s&nbsp;and women&rsquo;s 4x400m,&nbsp;but their streak came to a shuddering halt in Yokohama.&nbsp;
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<div>
In&nbsp;the men&rsquo;s event,&nbsp;a strong quartet of Nathan&nbsp;Strother, Fred&nbsp;Kerley&nbsp;and Michael Cherry handed the baton on to anchor Paul&nbsp;Dedewo&nbsp;with a comfortable&nbsp;five-metre&nbsp;lead. However,&nbsp;Dedewo&nbsp;badly tied up in the final 50&nbsp;metres&nbsp;and was caught by the flying&nbsp;Machel&nbsp;Cedenio&nbsp;in the final stride as Trinidad &amp; Tobago claimed an exhilarating victory. The USA, who crossed the line in second, was&nbsp;later disqualified for a lane violation.&nbsp; 
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 In the women&rsquo;s 4x400m, the sequence of US success came to an end as a talented Polish quartet anchored by&nbsp;Justyna&nbsp;Swiety-Ersetic&nbsp;timed their run to perfection to deny the US by 0.16.&nbsp;
</div>
<div>
An experienced US quartet containing Noah Lyles was&nbsp;surprisingly defeated in the men&rsquo;s 4x100m final by a talented and well-drilled Brazilian team, who clinched a narrow victory by 0.02 in a thrilling final.&nbsp;
</div>
<div>
US earned some consolation by taking out the men&rsquo;s 4x200m for the first time and&nbsp;winning&nbsp;all three mixed events &ndash; the 4x400m as well as the newly introduced 2x2x400m relay and&nbsp;shuttle&nbsp;hurdles&nbsp;relay.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h2>Home&nbsp;stars&nbsp;</h2>
</div>
<div>
In the three previous editions of the World Relays, Japan had&nbsp;only once secured a top-three finish, placing third in&nbsp;the men&rsquo;s 4x100m in 2015,&nbsp;but&nbsp;the host county&nbsp;fared much better in 2019. Japan actually surprisingly led after two legs of the&nbsp;shuttle&nbsp;hurdles&nbsp;relay until the US ran them down in the second half of the race. Still,&nbsp;second place&nbsp;was a rich reward for the host nation. Japan executed a tactically astute race to&nbsp;finish third&nbsp;in the 2x2x400m relay thanks to the efforts of&nbsp;Ayano&nbsp;Shiomi&nbsp;and&nbsp;Allon&nbsp;Tatsunami&nbsp;Clay.&nbsp;&nbsp;
</div>
<div>
The&nbsp;host nation also claimed fourth-place finishes in the men&rsquo;s 4x400m and women&rsquo;s 4x200m as well as fifth spot in the men&rsquo;s 4x200m. There was disappointment, however, for their highly-rated men&rsquo;s 4x100m who were disqualified for a baton exchange mishap in the heats.
&nbsp;
<h2>Talk of the&nbsp;town&nbsp;</h2>
</div>
<div>
Besides the memorable success of Brazil (men&rsquo;s 4x100m), Trinidad &amp; Tobago (men&rsquo;s 4x400m) and Poland (women&rsquo;s 4x400m), France claimed a surprise victory in the women&rsquo;s 4x200m. They did, however, benefit from a pair of shocking baton exchanges by the stellar Jamaican quartet of Elaine Thompson,&nbsp;Stephenie&nbsp;Ann McPherson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and&nbsp;Shericka&nbsp;Jackson, who,&nbsp;despite a pair of blunders,&nbsp;still had the sheer speed to claim&nbsp;third place.&nbsp; 
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 The two new events on the programme &ndash; the 2x2x400m relay and&nbsp;shuttle&nbsp;hurdles&nbsp;relay &ndash; proved a hit with Kenya, who opted to lead off with a male athlete in the former event. But it&nbsp;proved&nbsp;the wrong tactic as&nbsp;USA&rsquo;s Donavan Brazier&nbsp;executed&nbsp;a smartly judged plan to perfection to&nbsp;take the victory.&nbsp;
</div>
<div>
Spare a thought too for Australia, one of just three finalists who took to the start line for the shuttle&nbsp;hurdles&nbsp;relay.&nbsp;But&nbsp;Brianna&nbsp;Beahan&nbsp;committed a false start,&nbsp;leading to a heart-breaking disqualification.
&nbsp;
<h2>Innovations&nbsp;</h2>
</div>
<div>
Without doubt the introduction of the mixed 2x2x400m relay &ndash; to replace the previously featured 4x800m relay&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;proved a hit as teams were forced to think carefully about tactics and pace judgement in order to deliver. The introduction of the&nbsp;shuttle&nbsp;hurdles relay also injected a new element&nbsp;into the biennial competition.
&nbsp;
<h2>Legacy&nbsp;</h2>
</div>
<div>
The 2019 World Relays &ndash; the first be staged outside of&nbsp;The&nbsp;Bahamas &ndash; further helped expand the frontiers of the growing event. A record number of competing nations, plus&nbsp;the&nbsp;greatest spread of&nbsp;top-three finishes,&nbsp;further aided its global appeal while some exhilarating racing and multiple shocks and surprises made edition four of the World Relays, arguably, the best to date.&nbsp;&nbsp;
</div>
<div>
Steve Landells for World Athletics
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<hr />
<a name="JPN"></a>&nbsp;
<h1>日本陸上界の七不思議：世界リレー2019横浜</h1>
&nbsp;
<h2>はじめに</h2>
第4回世界リレーは、バハマが財政上の理由により開催を断念したことにより、日本の横浜に開催地を移すことが決定した。ナッソーで過去3回（2014年、2015年そして2017年）行われた世界リレーがバハマ外で行われるのは初めてのことであった。横浜国際スタジアムで5月11日・12日に世界リレー2019横浜が開催された。 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60cb0dc2057cd74a212bbb2b.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="632" />
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<h2>記録の更新</h2>
世界リレー2019横浜では2015年大会より1国多い過去最高の43か国が横浜に集った。
フランス、ブラジル、ポーランドそしてトリニダード・トバゴの4か国が初の優勝を手にした。また、南アフリカ（男子4x200m2位）とイタリア（女子4x400m3位）も初のトップ3と結果を残した。
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<h2>注目のパフォーマンス</h2>
過去すべての大会の男女4x400mで優勝していたアメリカが横浜で連勝記録を途絶えることとなった。
男子4x400mではネイサン・ストローザー、フレッド・カーリー、マイケル・チェリーがアンカーのパウル・デデオへと5mのリードでバトンを繋いだ。しかし残り50mで疲れが出て、トリニダード・トバゴのマシェル・セデニオに交わされる結果となった。トリニダード・トバゴの優勝確定が出た後にアメリカはレーン侵害で失格となりアメリカの連勝は途絶えた。
女子4x400mではシビェンティ＝エルセティック率いる経験豊富なポーランドがアメリカを0.02で下し優勝したことでアメリカの連勝を抑えた。
男子4x100mではノア・ライルズなど経験豊富なチームで挑んだものの0.02秒ブラジルに敵わず2位。
アメリカは初めて男子4x200mを制し、また全ての混合種目 4x400mと初実施の2x2x400mとシャトルハードルリレーでも優勝した。 
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<h2>開催国の英雄たち</h2>
日本は過去3大会では2015年の男子4x100mでの3位以外ではトップ3結果が無かったが、開催国日本は2019年大会では大きく結果を残すこととなる。シャトルハードルリレーでは前半はアメリカをリードするする驚きの展開であったが、後半はアメリカの強さに敵わない結果となったが大健闘の2位。2x2x400mでも頭脳戦を塩見綾乃とクレイ・アーロン・竜波の2人でバトンを繋ぎ3位と健闘した。
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<h2>巷で沸いた種目</h2>
ブラジル（男子4x100m）トリニダード・トバゴの（男子4x400m）ポーランド（女子4x400m）の優勝以外ではフランスが女子4x200mを制した。この結果はジャマイカのドリームチームのエレイン・トンプソン、ステファニーアン・マクファーソン、シェリーアン・フレーザープライスそしてシェリカ・ジャクソンのバトンミスがありながらも3位という事もあり実現した。
初実施種目の混合2x2x400mとシャトルハードルリレーはケニアチームが両方エントリーした。男子選手でスタートするなど野心的なオーダーで挑んだが、アメリカのドナバン・ブラジエに交わされ2x2x400mの戦略は失敗となってしまった。&nbsp;
オーストラリアはシャトルハードルリレー3チーム中3チーム目の決勝メンバーであったが、フライングに泣き失格となってしまった。&nbsp; 
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<h2>イノベーション</h2>
過去大会で行われていた4x800mの代わりに実施された2x2x400mが戦略的種目としてチームが考え抜いたオーダーにより行われることでより面白さを増した。シャトルハードルリレーも競技の柔軟さを示す種目となったと言えるだろう。
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<h2>レガシー</h2>
世界リレー2019横浜はバハマ外で行われたことでより多くのチームが出場となり、競技のグローバル化をはかることができた。多くの感動やショックで沸いた横浜大会は間違いなく過去一番の世界リレーとなったと言えるだろう。
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World Athletics Steve Landells World Athletics 大久保マイケル拓磨
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In the latest in our ‘seven wonders’ series, we turn our attention to the most recent global athletics event staged in Japan: the World Athletics Relays Yokohama 2019. 