4 May 2015

Two bronze medals and three qualification places secured for Rio 2016 Olympics were the highlights on the final day of the World Relays.

The Great Britain & Northern Ireland women’s 4x400m and 4x100m quartets finished third, while the men’s 4x400m sixth.

Eilidh Child (coach: Malcolm Arnold), Anyika Onuora (Rana Reider), Kelly Massey (Stephen Ball) and Seren Bundy-Davies (Ball) won a bronze in the 4x400m final.

A superb anchor leg from Bundy Davies held off France’s Floria Guei to cross the line in 3:26.38.

“I could see on the screen that she was close but you can’t really gain a perspective on the screen as it kind of warps things,” said Bundy Davies.

“I thought I’m in such a good position and just hold onto everything you have got. I couldn’t see her and that’s a good thing. I just kept on going.”

“We’ve come out here and got the job done,” admitted Onuora. “We finished top three against the top two in the world. There is so much we can learn from this.”

Asha Philip (Steve Fudge), Ashleigh Nelson (Michael Afilaka), Bianca Williams (Lloyd Cowan) and Margaret Adeoye (Linford Christie) replicated their team mates’ success just over an hour later in the Thomas Robinson National Stadium. It was a Jamaica, USA one two with Adeoye keeping Canada at bay on the anchor leg, clocking a time of 42.84.

A delighted Nelson said: “After the heats we just wanted to come out to the final and get our spot for the Rio Olympics. We missed out on London and it was devastating. We just wanted to cement a place and getting a medal is an added bonus.

“Us girls have come a long way,” revealed Philip. “As individuals we have stepped up and making medals at Europeans and Commonwealths. We are just proud of each other.”

The final race of the evening was the men’s 4x400m. Despite the partisan Bahamian crowd, it was USA that stole the show. The GB quartet of Conrad Williams (Christie), Rabah Yousif (Carol Williams), Jack Green (Loren Seagrave) and George Caddick (Clyde Hart) recorded an improved time of 3:01.50 from Saturday’s heat but it was only enough for sixth.

“I don’t think we were overly in it,” admitted Green. “We got into the final in last place and we didn’t come last tonight so we over performed compared to our heat run. This shows the boys stepped it up.

“It’s lovely (to be back). It’s a relief as well as being very happy. There was one point when I’m sure a lot of people including myself thought that I’d wouldn’t be back at any level let alone a World Relay final. I’m really happy and things are going well.”

Highlights from day two of the World Relays will be available on the BBC Red Button from 9am Monday and on iPlayer.