JAMAICA’S fate in the men’s 4x400m relays at the Paris Olympic Games will be decided today at the NACAC New Life Invitational to be held at Thomas A Robinson stadium in Nassau, The Bahamas.

The Jamaican team will compete against three teams, The Bahamas, Barbados, and an all-star team as they seek to take one of the two qualifying spots available in the race set to be run at 8:30 pm Jamaica time.

After missing two opportunities to qualify at the same venue just over a month ago at the World Athletics Relay Championships, the equation today is simple: Run faster than 2:59.12 minutes, the time completed by Zambia who occupies the 16th and final qualifying spot.

France occupies the other ‘quota’ spot with 2:58.45 minutes in 15th position, after 14 teams qualified directly from the world relays in May.

Last week, Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) named a six-member team — led by NCAA men’s 400m finalists JeVaughn Powell and Raheem Hayles and both of University of Florida — to compete in today’s final opportunity to make it to the Olympic Games.

In early May at the world relays, four other teams — both men’s and women’s 4x100m, the women’s 4x400m and the mixed relay — all secured their spots but the men’s 4x400m missed both chances and is now at risk of failing to qualify for the Olympics — something which has not happened to us in decades.

Jamaica just missed qualification when they competed in the world relays — placing third in the first round in 3:02.46 minutes behind Belgium with 3:00.09 minutes and Nigeria in 3:01.70 minutes — and then placed fifth in their second-round race in 3:05.09 minutes.

Jamaica are ranked 17th in the qualifying ranking with 2:59.34 minutes that they ran in the final of the World Athletics Championships last year in Budapest, Hungary.

In addition to Powell and Hayles, JAAA had also named 800m specialists Tarees Rhoden and Kimar Farquharson, sprinter Shevoi Reid, and 400m hurdles specialist Malik James-King.

Powell was part of the Jamaican team that won their heat in the first round of the men’s 4x400m relays at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, but was one of two runners who were replaced in the final where the team placed fourth.

Powell ran a personal best 44.54 seconds in the men’s 400m final at the NCAA Championships and was joined by Hayles on University of Florida men’s 4x400m team that placed third in 2:58.98 minutes.

Hayles, who ran 45.78 seconds in the 400m final, has a personal-best 44.81 seconds set last year while Farquharson, who was seventh in the men’s 800m, split 44.38 seconds on the third leg of the Texas A&M University team that won the 4x400m relay in a Championship record 2:58.37 minutes.

Rhoden, was who fourth in the 800m after leading most of the race in a personal-best 1:45.70 minutes, was part of the Clemson University 4x400m team that was second at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Outdoor championships and has a personal best 45.60 seconds in the 400m set last year.

Former Calabar High runner Reid, the 200m programme record holder at University of South Florida, has a 400m personal best 45.96 seconds set last year, a season’s best 46.48 seconds, and was part of his school’s 4x400m team that qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Men’s 4x400m squad

Tarees Rhoden

Kimar Farquharson

Shevoi Reid

JeVaughn Powell

Malik James-King

Raheem Hayles