By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

IN less than three weeks the World Athletics Relays will return to Paradise on May 4-5 at a newly renovated Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

With that being said, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) has officially named a 25-member contingent to represent the host country at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifier event.

The Bahamas will field a team in four out of the five relay events. The team will compete in the 4x100m (men and women), 4x400m (men), and the mixed relay events. The competitors selected to represent The Bahamas in the women’s 4x100m relay event are Camille Rutherford, Devynne Charlton, Printassia Johnson, Charisma Taylor, Shayann Demeritte, Nia Richards and Pedrya Seymour.

For the men’s section, the 4x100m competitors are Samson Colebrooke, Samalie Farrington, Ian Kerr, Carlos Brown, Deedro Clarke, Blake Bartlett, Jeremiah Adderley and Warren Fraser.The team members for the men’s 4x400m event are Steven Gardiner, Alonzo Russell, Wendell Miller, Zion Shepherd, Zion Miller, Lhevinne Joseph, Shakeem Hall-Smith and Deedro Clarke.

The mixed relay representatives are Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Anthonique Strachan, Lacarthea Cooper, Steven Gardiner, Alonzo Russell and Wendell Miller. The 25-member team will be led by David Charlton. He will be assisted by team coaches Tyrone Burrows (men’s 4x100m), Shaun Miller (mixed relay), Pauline Davis-Thompson (women’s 4x100m) and Ramon Miller (men’s 4x400m).

Dr Sandeep Goud will serve as the team’s doctor.

Nancy Claussen and Nick Morley are the massage therapists.

Bernique Hanna will be the team’s physiotherapist and Phillip Claussen will serve as the chiropractor.

Charlton, the leader of Team Bahamas, has high expectations for the host country.

“I am really excited with the team. We have some high calibre athletes. Unfortunately, some of our better athletes, mainly the college athletes, are not available this year because of obligations to their universities but, by and large, we have a very strong team.

“We are looking to have all of our teams that we are contesting to qualify for the Olympics.

“I think we can get it done because of the relay camp we have put together, working together and the cohesiveness of our team,” he said.

The Bahamas emerged as the champions of the 4x400m mixed relay event at the 2017 World Relays hosted on home soil.

With the additions of the top athletes, including Olympians Miller-Uibo and Gardiner, Charlton is confident in the team’s ability to compete at a high level.

“Our mixed relay [team], which I think is our gem, will feature both Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner along with two other members so our big guns are showing up.

“Also, for our women’s 4x100m, we have Devynne Charlton, who will be competing. We are very excited about that.

“Also, our men’s 4x100m team has been looking good and doing an excellent job of getting the stick around the track which is very important in the 4x100m,” he said.

“This past weekend in Florida our men’s 4x400m team competed and they had an impressive 3:04.00 time and, what made it so much more impressive was that we had a high school kid on that team and he had a fantastic leg. They were professional athletes that he ran against and he showed up so there are high expectations for our men’s 4x400m,” Charlton added.

Athletes are expected to arrive in The Bahamas a week before the World Relays.

The Bahamas’ fourth hosting of the World Relays will serve as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

The top 14 teams in each discipline will book a trip from Paradise to Paris, France.

The Bahamas hosted the first three editions of the World Relays, formerly known as the IAAF Relays, in 2014, 2015 and 2017.