Tokyo 2020: Ghana’s men’s 4x100m relay team book final spot with a National Record

Ghana’s 4x100m men’s relay team booked a place in the final of the men’s 4x100m relays with a blistering run at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The quartet of Sean Safo-Antwi, Benjamin Azamati, Emmanuel Yeboah and Joseph Paul Amoah, finished 5th in a very fast heat with a time of 38.08s that also saw them securing a new national record.

But despite their 5th place finish, their time was one of the ‘fastest losers’ in the heats to secure them a place in Friday’s final.

The Olympic debutants slashed 0.04s off the previous record which stood at 38.12s, set at the 1997 World Championships in Greece by the quartet of Abu Duah, Eric Nkansah, Aziz Zakari and Emmanuel Tuffour.

Safo-Antwi got off the blocks quickly before Azamati’s blistering run on the back straight set up Emmanuel Yeboah for a smooth bend.

When he handed off to Joseph Paul Amoah, Ghana looked in the mix of a very competitive field that included the United States, Canada, China and Italy.

China won, Italy with the individual 100m champions Marcell Jacobs finished second and 200m champion Andre De Grasse powered Canada to a 3rd place finish to secure the automatic places.

Germany, who finished 4th, also booked their ticket along with 5th placed Ghana.

The men’s 4x100m final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will take place on August 6 at 13:50GMT.