MX23RW : Wednesday, July 3 01:27:14| >> :600:289146846:289146846:

British Athletics' Neil Black defends World Relay no-shows

British Athletics performance director Neil Black defends the sprinters who did not compete at the IAAF World Relay Championships in the Bahamas.

British Athletics performance director Neil Black has defended the sprinters who decided against competing at the IAAF World Relay Championships in the Bahamas at the weekend.

The men's 4x100m team failed to seal early qualification to the Rio 2016 Olympics, and Richard Kilty, who performed, admitted that he was "let down" by the no-shows.

Adam Gemili, Chijindu Ujah and James Dasaolu are among the athletes who were absent, reasons being various minor injuries and university exams.

"That one event will be forgotten in a few weeks' time and there's loads of time to qualify," BBC Sport quotes Black as saying. "Our focus is towards the World Championships in Beijing, it's towards the Olympics in Rio."

The team failed to make the A final after finishing ninth in the heats, but the women's 4x400m and 4x100m teams, as well as the men's 4x400m team, did qualify.

ID:221073: cacheID:221073:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:1637:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Asha Philip, Bianca Williams, Jodie Williams, Ashleigh Nelson of England celebrate winning bronze in the Women's 4 x 100m Relay Final at Hampden Park during day ten of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on August 2, 2014
Read Next:
GB announce World Relay squad
>
rhs 2.0
Euro 2024 fixtures header
Friday, July 5
 
5pm
Quarter-Finals
Spain
vs.
Germany
 
8pm
Quarter-Finals
Portugal
vs.
France
Saturday, July 6
 
5pm
Tuesday, July 9
Wednesday, July 10
Sunday, July 14


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!