By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

WITH each stride, the Golden Knights lifted the spirit of the crowd at the Thomas A Robinson stadium yesterday evening, finishing second to the United States of America in a nail-biting 4x400m final.

The quartet brought the crowd at the sold-out event to its feet well before the gun went off as the sun settled on the final session of the weekend’s inaugural IAAF World Relays event.

While Bahamians could barely hide their disappointment when Leshawn Merritt, the world’s reigning 400m champion, overtook anchor Michael Mathieu with 50 meters to go before the finish line, the theme around the stadium after the race was that “our boys” did well and silver was good enough.

The crowd even chanted “242” when Latoi Williams, Demetrius Pinder, Chris Brown and Michael Mathieu took to the podium after the race to collect flowers.

It was a fitting climax to an event that has received high marks from spectators and participants alike and it has set the stage for next year’s event, which will also be held in the Bahamas.

Running out of lane four, the quartet led for most of the race, ultimately finishing in a season’s best of two minutes and fifty seven seconds, .34 mili-seconds behind Team USA in the latest chapter in their rivalry for supremacy in the men’s 4x400m relay.

Latoi Williams, who ran the opening leg, substituted for Ramon Miller, who famously anchored Team Bahamas to gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

Miller was expected to run yesterday, but an injury prevented him from participating.

Williams said he was overwhelmed by the crowd support. “I like what I did,” he said. “My job was to put them in the front of the race and I did my job and I did well. They did an excellent job bringing it back in first and everything like that so I only could be appreciative to God and this great country of the Bahamas and that crowd. I was so hyped up from the race started.”

Williams handed the baton to Demetrius Pinder, who ran a strong second leg that placed the Bahamas in first place at the second change over.

Speaking to The Tribune after the race, Pinder said: “I want to give God thanks. I gave my all. The crowd was behind me. I knew my team-mates was there behind me and we were right there to the end of line.”

Veteran sprinter Chris Brown opened up the Bahamas’ lead during his third leg, causing the already electric crowd to reach even higher decibels.

After the race, he said: “God is good. He allowed us to come home, to run in front of the home crowd. I feel good. That was one of our best teams. Ramon went down yesterday so we had to make a quick adjustment. We were expecting to run the original Golden Knights but that didn’t work out but we still did well. Hopefully next year we’d be back stronger.”

And despite running a strong final leg, Michael Mathieu said he didn’t quite have enough to hold off Merritt, the former Olympic 400m champion, whose presence he felt near him 50 meters away from the finish line.

Mathieu said: “I know he is number one in the world and so I know it was going to be hard to hold him off. But I know I tried my best definitely. I was trying. But he so strong, he came back on me at the end. But I’m satisfied with second place.”

The second place finish capped off a good week for the Knights, who also received $10,000 each and papers for 20,000 square feet of land in western New Providence during a special presentation at the office of the Prime Minister on Friday.

The finish was the only medal for The Bahamas at the event, which also saw three new world records set.

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