The men’s 4x400m relays team, which has attained the Olympic Games qualifying mark, faded to 11th place –a position they have occupied for two years at the annual American showpiece.

The team qualified for the Olympics after finishing sixth in the 4x400m relay at the World Championships in Daegu in 3 minutes, 01.15 seconds but were not invited last year to the Penn State competition.

The quartet of Vincent Koskei (47.2), Vincent Mumo (47.2) Anderson Mureta (47.3) and Mark Mutai (46.0) finished sixth in 3:07.78 in heat one to be ranked 11th. Nigeria (3:09.01) finished 13th.

Athletics Kenya Public relations officer Peter Angwenyi said the federation will be keen to sharpen areas of weakness ahead of the Olympics. He said:

“The athletes are picking up well. Our coaches will work on the weak areas. Our dream of winning an Olympics sprints medal is still alive.”

The US red team (3:00.15) were ranked ahead of Bahamas (3:00.56) and the US Blue team (3:03.13). Jamaica (3:03.28), Belgium (3:04.32) and Trinidad-Tobago (3:04.98), Australia (3:05.93), Dominican Republic (3:06.77) and Germany (3:06.83) followed respectively as Venezuela (3:06.83) and Grenada (3:08.85) closed the chapter.