03 May 2021

Botswana 4x400 men’s relay team won a bronze medal at the World Athletics Relays Silesia 2021 in Poland on Sunday.

The team, which clocked 3:04.77 and qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympics comprised Isaac Makwala, Boitumelo Masilo, Ditiro Nzamani and Leungo Scotch.

They completed the race behind Netherlands and Japan who clocked 3:03.45 and 3:04.45 respectively.

Despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for athletes to adequately prepare for the competition, it was evident that the quartet was on a mission at Chorzow.

The team sailed to the finals after finishing first in the heats with a Season Best time of 3:04.03 followed by Italy with 3:04.81 while the hosts Poland finished third with 3:05.04.

Although it competed under pressure from equally competent opponents, the team ensured that a podium finish made them relevant in the athletic circles.

Makwala, who started the race clocked 46.43 seconds while Masilo continued with his good performance running 45.72.

The third leg was orchestrated by Nzamani who clocked 46.19 while the anchor, Scotch ran 46.43 to deliver a bronze medal.

Track and field analyst, Lentswe Charles, said it was hard for Makwala on the homestretch because South African and Dutch runners were explosive when reaching the exchange zone.

The tightly marked Masilo, he said, fought hard and seemed to be closed on the inside in the first half of the lap.  

Charles said the homestretch was too competitive in all the legs and gave all the boys a hard time since they all seemed to be fading towards exchange zones resulting in decreasing pace velocity.

He said South Africa, Japan and the Netherlands determined the race.

According to Charles, 4x400m relay races were usually won or lost towards the exchange zones of the first leg or on the homestretch of the anchor leg.

“That was where quarter milers needed to go strong and explosive if at all they used their energies well with good pace judgement on their first 300m of their splits as well as possessing a well-built speed reserve,” he said. Another analyst, Aobakwe Showa, was of the view that overall it was a not a bad performance, despite registering a slower time than the heats.

He said it was evident that most athletes had not reached their peaks yet and they seemed to struggle on the home straight indicating lack of endurance.

“I thought Makwala had a very fast 200m and he paid for it in the home straight as the rest of the pack behind caught up him in the exchange baton zone, but nevertheless he handed the baton to Masilo probably behind South Africa and Netherlands,” he said.

Showa said he was happy that Masilo proved to be a quick athlete because he once again recorded the fastest split of 45.72 allowing the quartet to be in medal contention.

Pace judgement, he said, was essential in the 400m.

Showa also added that Nzamani and Scotch went a little hard in the back straight, but did not have stamina on the home straight.  He said Nzamani in particular could have done better on the bend since he covered a lot of ground by trying to pass Dutch athlete Ramsey Angel, but did not have   the legs to carry him to the end.

That, Showa said, gave-way for Japanese Yuki Sato who utilized the inner lane to ran past him with relative easy. ENDS