DOHA, QATAR — A pair of Aggie alums, Jessica Beard and Deon Lendore, competed in the prelims of the 4x400 relay during Saturday’s action in the IAAF World Championships and assisted their respective teams to Sunday’s final.
Beard ran the opening leg for the United States as they produced a world-leading time of 3:22.96 in winning the second semifinal over Great Britain (3:24.99) and Ukraine (3:26.57). The other semifinal was claimed by Jamaica (3:23.64) ahead of Poland (3:25.78) and Canada (3:25.86).
Joining Beard on the relay were Allyson Felix, Kendall Ellis and Courtney Okolo. Beard has already earned a gold medal in the mixed 4x400 relay at Khalifa International Stadium earlier this week.
Lendore anchored the Trinidad & Tobago relay and moved them from fifth to third place on his carry. A time of 3:01.35 earned an auto qualification to the final ahead of France (3:01.40), who advanced on time. Jamaica (3:00.76) and Belgium (3:00.87) were the top two teams in the semifinal heat.
The United States men’s relay had a seed time of 2:59.05, the world-leading performance by Texas A&M during the Aggies NCAA victory in June, and easily won the first semifinal heat in 2:59.89 over Colombia (3:01.06), Italy (3:01.60), and Great Britain (3:01.96).
The 4x400 relay finals on Sunday start at 1:15 p.m. for the women and 1:30 p.m. for the men.
