Jamaican women impress in 4x400 heats

The Jamaican quartet of Dejanea Oakley, Stacey-Ann Williams, Roniesha McGregor, and Nickisha Pryce stormed into the final of the women's 4x400-metre Relay at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, today.

The Jamaicans clocked a season's best time of 3:22.77, a world-leading time for barely ten minutes.

They finished comfortably clear of chasing quartets from Norway and Poland before the United States posted an ominous warning in the second heat, winning in an even quicker 3:22.53.

Oakley led off swiftly but sensibly to hand over to Stacey-Ann Williams with a ten-metre advantage before Roneisha McGregor took over and handed to Pryce, who had an almost unassailable lead.

Pryce, however, kept the pace going and dipped under the 50-second barrier with 49.64 to bring the stick safely home, teeing up a mouth-watering final on Sunday.

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