All eyes are on the Bahamas as athletics biggest stars and Team Nigeria fight for Olympic qualification

At the pre-event press conference for the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 2024, 10 of the world’s best sprinters spoke of their ambitions to secure Olympic relay qualification this weekend when they compete at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium in Nassau.

Noah Lyles – the world 100m, 200m, and 4x100m champion – will be aiming to secure USA’s place at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the men’s 4x100m. He’ll also be using this weekend’s event as a stepping stone towards a potential tilt at winning four medals at the Games, where he intends to compete in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m.

He won’t, however, be contesting the longer event in Nassau.

“I won’t be running the 4x400m here – when I did it at the World Indoors, let’s just say it caused a lot of controversy,” said Lyles, who ran the third leg for the USA in the 4x400m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where he claimed silver. “This year I will be training specifically for the 100m and 200m, but also to be in good shape for the 400m so that I can be part of the 4x400m at the Paris Olympics. I’m in the best shape of my life, and I know I’ve been saying that for two years, but it’s very true.”

Marcell Jacobs, the defending Olympic 100m and 4x100m champion and defending World Relays 4x100m winner, will be doing all he can to prevent Lyles from reaching the top of the podium in Nassau and Paris.

“There has been a lot of change in my life since Budapest,” said the Italian. “I’ve moved to the US and changed coaches. I’m really happy – the work we’ve been doing in training is really good. Now I’m here with my teammates; we’re the defending World Relays champions and the Olympic champions and hopefully, we’ll win again here.”

Seven years on from forming part of the victorious Bahamian mixed 4x400m team in Nassau, two-time Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo will race on home soil again as she continues her comeback following the birth of her son Maicel in April last year.

World indoor 60m hurdles champion Devynne Charlton is no stranger to a relay, but this will be her first time competing at the global event.

“I’m a hurdler that can sprint. It’s a little different, it takes me back to high school and college because I was doing double duties there. I’m excited to be in a team environment again.”

It also allows her to race back on home soil, where she received a celebratory homecoming after her success in Glasgow in March.

“It was a big deal when I came home, the reception was amazing,” she said. “I almost wasn’t able to walk the streets because people were stopping to get a picture with me. It was overwhelming but amazing to see the pride that Bahamian people felt for something that I did.”

The men’s 4x400m quartet provided France with their only medal at last year’s World Championships, so expectations are high as they approach an Olympic Games on home soil.

“I’ve done a round-the-world trip – I’ve been to New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa – just to be ready for the Olympics,” he said. “We’re all very ready and we’re very determined. It’s the year of our lives for us French athletes – a home Olympics comes around just once in 100 years, so we’ve got to get this one right.”