Team Ghana has qualified for the Men’s 4x100m relay final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games following an impressive run on Wednesday morning.
Ghana will be the only African nation in the final event slated for Friday, August 6, 2021.
The quartet of Sean Safo-Antwi, Benjamin Azamati, Emmanuel Yeboah and Joseph Paul Amoah set a new national record to reach the final. They finished fifth in Heat 2 with a time of 38.08 seconds.
Their time was good enough to secure qualification despite them finishing two places behind the automatic qualification mark.
Interestingly, Ghana beat one of the event’s heavy favourites, the United States of America, who came sixth in 38.10 seconds.
China topped Ghana’s heat followed by Canada, who were led by 200m Gold medalist Andre De Grasse.
100m winner Lamont Jacobs’ Italy were third, and then Germany, with two athletes of Ghanaian descent Ansah-Peprah Lucas and Ansah Owen, placed fourth.
South Africa did not finish in Heat 1, which saw Jamaica, Great Britain and Japan qualify.
Safo-Antwi got off the blocks quickly before Azamati’s blistering run on the back straight set up Emmanuel Yeboah for a smooth bend.
Yeboah handed the baton over to 200m semifinalist Joseph Paul Amoah, who raced to fifth.
Their 38.08 seconds smashed the national record set by Abu Duah, Eric Nkansah, Aziz Zakari and Emmanuel Tuffour at the 1997 World Championships. They produced 38.12 seconds in Greece.
Ghana’s sprinters are all making their debuts at the global sporting event.
Credit: 3news
