One of the most exciting events in athletics is the relay race, which is starting on May 4, 2024, in the Bahamas.
While there are many stars who will be present at the event, our eyes will be on our Indian stars, who are participating in all three 400-meter races: men’s 4x400m, women’s 4x400m, and mixed 4x400m relay
The Indian team has sent a strong 15-member squad across the men’s 4x400m, women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m.
4x400m Relay Men
An eight-member team has been sent by India for Men’s 4x400m, which includes the dream team of Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Anas Yahiya, Muhammad Ajmal, and Rajesh Ramesh.who captured the eyes of everyone in India and abroad alike with their brilliant performance last year at the World Relays, where they almost pipped the USA to first place in the heats
and dipped twice below the 3-minute mark both in the heats and the final.
Other players who are also included in the team are Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom, Yashas Palaksha, and Avinash Krishna Kumar.
While it will be interesting to see whether India will field the dream team or not as Rajesh Ramesh will be returning from an injury, on the other hand, there is Noah Nirmal Tom, who is also in contention as he pipped Muhammad
Anas Yahiya and Muhammad Ajmal to first place at the recently concluded 5th Indian Open 400m Competition on March 18th at Kerala.
Will Women 4×400 give a surprise
While on the Women’s 4x400m front, India has sent a seven-member team led by Vithya Ramraj, India’s fastest 400m hurdler and currently India’s fastest 400m runner as well, joining her MR Poovamma, who is returning after a doping ban but got selected after her performance at the 5th Indian Open 400m Competition, where she came in 2nd, just behind Vithya Ramraj.
Jyothika Sri Dandi and Rupal, who came in 3rd and 4th at the same event, also got selected, with Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi, and Subha Venkatesan completing the squad.
In the Mixed 4x400m relay Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh, Jyothika Sri Dandi, Amoj Jacob, Rupal, and Yashas Palaksha form the six-member squad.
Men’s 4x400m: Amoj Jacob, Avinash Krishna Kumar, Rajiv Arokia, Rajesh Ramesh, Noah Nirmal Tom, Muhammad Ajmal, Muhammad
Anas and Yashas Palaksha.
India is in H4 along with Australia, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Botswana, South Africa, France and Spain will start at 7:51 am
Women’s 4x400m: Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma, Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi, Vithya Ramraj, Rupal, Subha Venkatesan.
India will compete in H1 along with Zambia, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, Netherlands & Australia will start at 6:31am
Mixed 4x400m: Jyothika Sri Dandi, Vithya Ramraj, Rupal, Amoj Jacob,
Rajesh Ramesh, Yashas Palaksha.
India is in H2 along with Hungary, Italy, Bahrain, Nigeria, USA, South Africa and the heat will start at 4:46am
This is a very important event, as it also acts as a qualification route for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The top two teams in each heat who reach the final will also be securing an Olympic quota in the process.
On Day 2, the remaining teams that missed out on qualification will get one more chance of capturing that quota through an additional qualifying round, where the top two teams in each heat will also get the qualifying berth.
Also, the teams that qualified for the finals will fight for medals along with Olympic Lane seeding positions.
WORLD ATHLETICS RELAYS 2024 SCHEDULE:
In Indian Standard Time (IST),
May 5, Sunday (Saturday Night)
• Mixed 4x400m relay Olympic qualifying round 1 (heat 2): 4:46 AM
• Women’s 4x400m relay Olympic qualifying round 1 (heat 1): 6:31 AM
• Men’s 4x400m relay Olympic qualifying round 1 (heat 4): 7:51 AM
May 6, Monday (Sunday Night)
• Men’s 4x400m relay Olympic qualifying round 2 (heats): 5:35 AM
• Women’s 4x400m relay Olympic qualifying round 2 (heats): 6:00 AM
• Mixed 4x400m relay Olympic qualifying round 1 (heats): 6:34 AM
• Mixed 4x400m relay finals: 7:10 AM
• Women’s 4x400m relay finals: 7:40 AM
• Men’s 4x400m relay finals: 7:50 AM
Written By Naman Jain
