LONDON, UK, (CMC) – Two national records were smashed as Trinidad & Tobago booked places in the finals of both the men’s 4 x 400 and women’s 4 x 100 metres relay Thursday, the 7th day of track and field at the London 2012 olympic games. The men- Lalonde Gordon, Jarrin Solomon, Ade Alleyne-Forte and Deon Lendore- won the heat and set a new time of 3:00.38 to erase the 3:01.05 set back in 1992.
“We are like sharks” said Lendore, who ran the final leg.
“We have to go out to win, set the bar and now, we have an equal chance to win (the final).”
Later, the Trinidad and Tobago female relay team squandered a lead to finish behind the United States in the 4 x 100 metres.
The quartet of Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Kai Selvon and Semoy Hackett secured a place in the finals after a record breaking run that set a new time of 41.32, beating the 42.50 the same four athletes set last year in Daegu, South Korea.
USA with Tianna Madison, Jeneba Tarmoh, Bianca Knight and Lauryn Williams, won the heat in a season best 41.64
“I almost didn’t get the stick to Kai, so knowing that we didn’t have good passes and to still get our national record I think that’s a great thing,” Baptiste told reporters.
“Realistically speaking we know anything can happen but at the end of the day we know that there are two teams stronger than us and the rest of us are running for bronze, and that’s just the reality. We want to win, everybody wants to win, but we are being realistic and we just want to get a medal.”
Jamaica also qualified for the finals of the women’s 4 x 100 metre relay after poor baton passing created a photo finish with Ukraine who beat them at the tape.
Meanwhile, Jamaica also failed to qualify for the 4x400m men’s final, and Bahamas got the better of USA in the same semi-final heat.
Bahamas won in a season’s best 2:58.87 seconds, with Ramon Miller running the first leg, Demetrius Pinder on the second , Michael Mathieu on the third  and Chris Brown on anchor.