Women's 4×100m Relay Heats 1 Round 1 |Commonwealth Games 2022 Athletics |6th Aug 22 |BIRMINGHAM |

In lane four, Jamaica expected to put out a fabulous time here. Nelson, White, Virgil, McGregor, their squad. Scotland, they will be quick as well. Singapore and India. And the Indian squad with their tails up. Who knows what they can do. On paper, they may qualify. But frankly, with the advantage of some fabulous results bolstering their spirits this morning by other members of their team, we may see India outperform themselves here. So, the Jamaicans lead off athlete. That's Nelson just adjusting her blocks. England took gold four years ago on the Gold Coast, ahead of Jamaica and Nigeria in third. Well, they're still going through their preparations. So, let's return our attention to this hammer competition. Adam Keenan, one of three Canadians. A really classy trio and he was ever so close to the podium on the Gold Coast. And that looks like it's the closest effort we've seen to the 70-meter line so far. Knocked out in the qualifiers in Eugene. Very tight at the top of the leaderboard. Jones is just a few, oh, and half a meter up on McAfee. Both of them on 68 meters. Keenan's watching and waiting here. Lovely morning. The flag's not fluttering as strongly as they were. He goes into the lead by a single centimeter, the Canadian. Good start for him. Meanwhile, the women getting ready for the first of the two semifinals. Top three in each going through to the big showdown. Well, Jamaica were champions in Scotland in 2014 in those wonderfully organized games in Glasgow. But beaten by England. Bit of an upset that four years ago. They'll want to get back on the top of the roster, but first they must get that baton around these four athletes. Baton speed is critical. The changeovers need to be smooth and you can quite often in relays get a squad of moderate talents defeating a squad of super talents. If the changeovers are strong, if you can maintain baton speed through keeping it to really smooth changeovers, then you can quite often get some rather strange results. Here's the leadoff athlete for the Indian, Chand. She'll hand over to Das, then Nanda and Eyalaji. On the outside, they can focus on their own job. The Indian record, 43.37. Singapore go in lane six. Pereira will hand over to Zaini, then Chandran and Liu. Scotland, always good carriers of the baton at the Commonwealth Games. Matheson, Rees, Malone and Spence, their quartet. The Jamaicans, well they start as favourites here surely with Nelson, White, Virgil and McGregor making up their foursome. Their national record, 41.02. Here is the Maltese quartet. The leadoff runner, Atapardi. She'll hand over to Richard, Kekluna and Wingfield. Then the Maldives on the inside with Hussein, Mohamed, Hasan and Mohamed again making up their foursome. Well, the second fastest time ever is by Jamaica. That was last year at the Olympic Games. 41.02. Only the USA have ever gone under 41 seconds. Anything down in the low 42s is very, very crisp. In fact, only Jamaica have been down there. The Scottish record, for example, 44.35. Scottish best this season, 44.35. The first of two heats. The women's 4x100m. The first three teams go through by right to tomorrow's final. Maldives in two, Malta three, Jamaica going four in the yellow. Scotland in five, Singapore six, India seven. Away they go. And already Jamaica making up ground on Scotland. Centre are picked. Jamaica almost up alongside Matheson. Scotland has been a brilliant leg from Nelson. A safe changeover, not a fast changeover from the Jamaicans. The Scots pretty much matched them. But down the back straight, the second leg runner from Jamaica moving really well at the moment. That is why she has a good changeover from the Jamaicans. Scotland in second, going really well. On the outside, India going pretty well too. It's Jamaica from India at the moment. India having a really good run here. Their backs are up as Jamaica take it over on their final leg. Down the home straight, looking really strong. It's McGregor now storming away with this. That's an eight to nine metre winning margin. India comfortably second, Scotland in third. And a really close battle for the fourth places there. But 43-66 by Jamaica there. Well, it was a safe squad that got it round well enough. Let's hope there are no red flags and that all the changeovers were good for every team. But that was a huge winning margin and an equally huge gap behind India, Rob. Yes, Scotland getting the best of that battle for the third spot. Wingfield was finishing very quickly for Malta on the anchor leg. The Indians had a very sluggish changeover from third to anchor. But how well did they go down the back straight? They've taken second. Scotland have gone through by a couple of tenths of a second. Singapore and Malta very, very close behind. But we will see the Scottish quartet in the final. The Jamaicans are so good. They've got such a great reputation, the Olympic champions, the silver medalists in Eugene, gold in Glasgow, and they've got Elaine Thompson here who they can draft into the final. Not a bad name to add to the list, a four-time individual Olympic champion. Yes, Thompson has looked superb all week. Hasn't she? Getting fitter all the time. That was a safe changeover from the Indians on the outside. I expected a little more from Scotland. I thought they'd be closer to India, that's for sure. But look at this changeover from Scotland. Oh, awful changeover, final changeover there from Scotland. Looked to me like the outgoing runner went off a little bit early for them. That was Spence. Indeed, they're only just ahead of Singapore. And you'd expect from a world-ruled squad like the Scots a bigger margin. But they are through safely. Sorry, Rob. Yes, Jamaica, India and Scotland. So, so good, the Jamaicans. You could see Spence coming under a little bit of pressure there for that third spot with the fast finish of Wingfield from Malta. Watch this last changeover for the Indians just on the left of picture. Took them a while. Can't quite see her. And also, as you said, it was a little bit sluggish from the Scots. But poetry in motion, the Jamaican quartet. And they will be smarting after finishing second to the United States in Eugene. But despite the fact that we've got great teams going in the second of the heats, England as the defending champions, the Jamaicans would surely line up as the joint favourites at least. And England, well, they've swapped victories at the Commonwealth Games with Jamaica. The last four editions have gone Jamaica, England, Jamaica, England. Jamaicans, of course, as Rob rightly pointed out, can be through by right. Scotland, a PB there, 45.39. I'm not sure that is actually correct. Singapore, Malta and Maldives not automatic qualifiers. Singapore and Malta may go through. We'll have to wait and see.