Despite the national men’s 4x100m relay team achieving the required time to qualify for the World Athletics Championships this September, Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) First Vice-President Ian Forbes is aware the team is not yet safe.

The Jamaican quartet of Rohan Watson, Oblique Seville, Kadrian Goldson, and Kishane Thompson clocked 37.80 seconds to win the men’s 4x100m relay at the London leg of the Diamond League at the weekend, a time that moved them up to 15th place on the World Athletics relay qualification rankings. While the result was enough to meet the provisional qualifying standard, Forbes cautioned that the situation remains fluid.

“We are very elated that the team has achieved the qualifying time,” Forbes said. “But of course, you know that it is still a very fluid situation because if others outside the top 14 run faster, then they could advance.”

With the top 16 nations earning spots at the World Championships in Tokyo this September, Forbes says the goal is to keep improving the time before the registration deadline.

“Based on my perspective, I can hardly see anyone outside of the top 14 running faster than that,” he said. “But it will be good if we can run even faster than that before the close of registration.”

The Jamaicans trail only South Africa and the USA and replaced the Netherlands while pushing Nigeria out of a qualifying spot, at least for now. The top 14 teams already secured their places at the World Athletics Relays held in China in March, and the next two fastest teams at the end of the qualifying period, August 24, will fill out the field for the World Championships.

Forbes says while the performance in London was promising, there is still room for improvement.

“I think it was a decent performance, but of course this wasn’t necessarily the smoothest race,” he said. “With more practice, they could run faster, and I am quite optimistic that once we make it to Tokyo and we’re among the final 16, we will have a live shot of winning a medal, or even ending up on top of the podium, if everything comes together.”

Jamaica’s mixed 4x400m relay team is however still seeking qualification. Forbes says the JAAA is making every effort to ensure that team also books its ticket to Tokyo.

“We have plans to qualify them as well, and that is the objective,” he said. “So we will seize all the opportunities that are available to try and qualify that team also.”

Forbes confirmed that the NACAC Championships, set for August 15-17 in Freeport, Bahamas, will be the primary focus in their qualification push.

“I am thinking we should have a strong team because we will try to field the best possible team that we can,” he said.