Jamaicans storm to 4x100 metres relay wins

BERLIN (Reuters) - Jamaica were crowned the undisputed sprint champions of the world after claiming the men's and women's 4x100 metres relay titles on Saturday.

Jamaican Usain Bolt, who shattered the world records en route to his 100 and 200 individual golds, now holds all three world and Olympic titles.

He ran third in the 4x100 team that comfortably won gold with Asafa Powell, a former world record holder, sprinting to victory in the second-best time ever recorded of 37.31 seconds. Only Jamaica's Beijing Olympic record of 37.10 is faster.

Trinidad & Tobago clocked a fizzing 37.62 to win silver ahead of third-placed Britain (38.02).

Half-an-hour earlier Jamaica's women had sprinted to victory in the 4x100 relay, clocking 42.06 seconds, to recapture the world crown they last won in 1991.

The overwhelming favourites raced into the home stretch with a small advantage and anchor Kerron Stewart built on their lead to win ahead of Bahamas and Germany.

MISERABLE PERFORMANCE

Jamaica's main rivals, the United States, dropped the baton in their semi-final earlier on Saturday, completing a miserable 4x100 relay performance after the men were disqualified for a handover outside the box on Friday.

Both U.S. teams also failed to make the finals in Beijing.

While their sprint relays were a catastrophe, the Americans are on track for the gold medals in both 4x400 relays.

In the men's event the U.S., who have won eight of the last 10 world titles, comfortably won their heat in 3 minutes 01.40 seconds even without Olympic and world champion LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner. France and Britain also went through.

Belgium, with the second worst time in the qualifiers, surprisingly won their heat ahead of the Bahamas, who were later disqualified, and the Dominican Republic.

In the women's event the holders had little trouble booking a final spot with newly-crowned world champion Sanya Richards taking advantage of a huge lead to anchor the team to victory.

Nigeria and France clocked season bests to go through.

Russia were easy winners in their heat, winning in 3:23.80, followed by Jamaica and Germany.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)