BUDAPEST, Hungary — Jamaica’s women’s 4x400m relay team clocked 3:20.88 minutes to cap off a solid 2023 World Athletics Championships with a silver, lifting the country to 12 medals, its second-best-ever medal haul at the event.

Jamaica’s tally was second most behind the United States, but they ended fourth place in the medals table with three gold medals, five silver, and four bronze, just failing to match the 13 medals won at the 2009 championships Berlin.

The USA won 29 medals (12 gold, eight silver, and nine bronze), while Canada finished second with six (four gold and two silver) and Spain third with five (four gold and a silver).

Jamaica were second in the points table, with 139, behind the United States (277). Kenya (112 points) were third, Great Britain (102) fourth, and Ethiopia (96) fifth.

After a strong men’s team just failed to get a medal, placing fourth in 2:59.34, the women’s team of Candice McLeod, Janieve Russell, Nickisha Pryce, and Stacey Ann Williams gritted out a silver medal as 400m hurdles gold medallist Femke Bol came from way behind to clip Jamaica on the line.

The win atoned for Bol falling about 10 metres from the line as she led her team in the final of the mixed 4x400m relays on the first day of the Championships.

It was a well-received medal for the Jamaican women nonetheless, especially Candice McLeod and Janieve Russell, who had failed to win a medal in their individual events.

McLeod, who was seventh in the 400m, said her job was to just get the team in a position from which they could challenge

“I knew they would do their best, and they did,” she told the Jamaica Observer. “I felt better than how I ended my individual event and I just needed to pick myself back up and go again. It’s not the end of the world and a lot more races to come,” McLeod said.

It was also a story of redemption for Russell, who was brought to tears after placing seventh in the 400m hurdles final.

“I’m really, really grateful. It showed that I am an athlete, I am a champion, I picked up myself, came out here to represent myself, my country, and those supporters who have been with me through thick and thin,” she said.

“It’s just for me to just try my very best to stand out and to get ready when I’m in the blocks for the 400m hurdles

“Its God’s timing, it’s not my timing, and I will continue to push and if that means that I’m going to get a medal in my late 30s, I will continue to do that. But I know I want to represent my country the best I know I can,” Russell insisted.

A lot was expected from the men’s team, especially with the inclusion of 400m winner Antonio Watson and Roshawn Clarke, who was fourth in the 400m hurdles, to join Rusheen McDonald and Zandrion Barnes. But they came up just short.

United States won in a world lead 2:57.31, followed by France, who ran a national record 2:58.45 and Great Britain (2:58.71).

Watson, who anchored the team, poured cold water on rumours that he might be injured, saying he would have run in the first round if he was required.

“[It was] rough, the 4x400m is always a rough race,” he said, while expressing disappointment he did not get a second medal at the championships.

Clarke, who ran the second leg, also rued missing a medal.

“We did our best to get the team into the medals, but we fell short. But we will be ready for the next championships,” Clarke said.