Olympics: Despard helps Australia qualify for Paris at World Relays

Hobart sprinter Jacob Despard has taken a big step towards an Olympics berth after helping Australia’s 4x100m team qualify for Paris at the World Relays overnight. Read how they got it done here.

Hobart's Jacob Despard (second from left) helped Australia's 4x100m relay team qualify for the Olympics at the World Relays in the Bahamas on Sunday night. Picture: Athletics Australia

Hobart sprinter Jacob Despard appears well poised to realise his Olympic dream after helping guide Australia’s 4x100m relay team to a strong result at the World Relays in the Bahamas early this morning.

Australia (38.50) missed out on direct qualification by four-thousandths of a second after they were edged out for second spot by the narrowest by margins by Jamaica in their heat.

Needing a top two finish in the repechage round given their world ranking had fallen out of the top 16, Australia duly delivered with a 38.46 run to finished second behind South Africa (38.46) and ahead of Colombia (39.04).

Despard combined with recent national championships winner Sebastian Sultana, Calab Law and Josh Azzopardi to seal the Australia’s ticket to Paris.

Although the relay team for the Olympics is yet to be officially named, the result puts Despard in a strong position to be picked.

Anchor runner Azzopardi put the result to bed well before the finish, allowing Despard to celebrate.

“As soon as Josh was clear of the chasing pack I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face,” he said.

“I couldn’t be prouder to qualify with this group of men. We’re all really committed to relay and have a great connection as a team.”

Olympic selection would give Despard a chance to avenge the disappointment of his Commonwealth Games relay experience at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where anchor runner Rohan Browning fell to deny Australia a spot in the final.

The 27-year-old had initially vowed not to compete in an Olympics without qualifying for an individual spot again, but that stance has since softened.

Jacob Despard. Picture: Casey Sims

“After the Commonwealth Games when Rohan fell over I said I never wanted to go to a major champs as only a relay runner again,” he said after finishing third behind Sultana and Azzopardi at last month’s national championships.

(But) going to the Olympics, no matter what the event is, is pretty special,” he said.“I went here (Birmingham) in the best shape of my life and ran really well, to have nothing to show for that took a long time to come to terms with.

“We’ve got a good group of boys at the moment in the (relay) team. I think we can do something special, we’re already knocking of the door of the Australian record.”

Australia’s 4x100m women’s relay team of Ebony Lane, Bree Masters, Ella Connolly and Torrie Lewis also qualified by setting a new national record in their heat, before finishing fifth in the final.