Asafa Powell helped Jamaica defend the men’s 4x100m crown while Allyson Felix aided two US women’s triumphs in Saturday’s ‘USA Versus the World’ events at the 117th Penn Relays.
More than 180 athletes from 16 nations took part but Jamaica’s men and America’s women shone brightest at Franklin Field.
Powell, Michael Frater, Nesta Carter and anchor Steve Mullings won the 4x100m relay in 38.33 seconds, 0.10s ahead of USA Red’s Walter Dix, Wallace Spearmon, Trell Krimmons and Mike Rodgers.
Powell, Carter and Frater joined world record-holder Usain Bolt in setting the world 4x100 record of 37.10 in 2008. Only Bolt was part of the Jamaican squad that won the 2010 Penn Relays in 37.90, Bolt with an 8.79 anchor leg.The other trio from the world record run joined Mullings, who owns the season’s best 100m time of 9.90 seconds, in defending the title.
USA Blue’s Justin Gatlin, Darvis Patton, Shawn Crawford and Ivory Williams came third in 38.66.
Felix and Carmelita Jeter helped extend the US women’s 4x100m win streak to seven years, sparking USA Red to victory in a meet-record 42.28 with USA Blue second in 42.64.
Jamaica were third in 42.74 with a line-up that included Olympic and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser and Olympic medallists Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson.
Lauryn Williams ran the USA Red opening leg, then passed to Felix, who has been on the past five winning foursomes in the event.
She handed off to Marshavet Myers, who delivered the baton for the anhcor leg to Jeter, the 2011 100m world leader who has helped win the event three years in a row.
Felix also helped the US women to an 11th 4x400m relay title in 12 tries against global rivals at the Penn Relays, joining Sanya Richards-Ross in claiming their fifth 4x400 Penn title in the US-World format. Richards-Ross ran the fastest anchor leg in 51.18 to bring home the crown for a team that also featured opener Debbie Dunn, second-leg Felix and Natasha Hastings. USA Blue were second in 3:23.17 with Jamaica third in 3:23.82.
US 400 hurdles stars Bershawn Jackson and Angelo Taylor ran the final two legs for the triumphant US 4x400 relay, joining opener Quentin Summers and Jamal Torrence to win for USA Red in 3:02.40.
Taylor’s anchor leg of 45.49 seconds was only fourth-best but still enough to give the Americans the victory over Chris Brown-anchored Bahamas by 0.39 of a second with Grenada third in 3:04.69.
Jamaica won a fourth consecutive women’s sprint medley relay crown in 3:34.64 with Kenia Sinclair’s 800m anchor leg of 1:57.06 putting the Caribbean squad across the finish line 3.17 seconds ahead of USA Red.
The Jamaicans were 0.08 of a second off the world record set in Jamaica’s 2009 victory, when Sinclair’s anchor leg was 0.37 slower than this year.
Morocco team of Mohammed Moustaoui, Marouan Maadadi, Mohammed Laalou and Amine Laalou won the men’s distance medley relay in 9:17.48, edging Australia’s Ryan Gregson, Sean Wroe, Lachlan Renshaw and Jeff Riseley by 0.08.
Bernard Lagat, a nine-time world or Olympic medallist, led off the USA Red squad that were third in 9:18.09 but the Americans have still never won the event at the Penn Relays.