Former Georgia Dogs, Current Assistant Help Qualify Teams For Olympics At World Athletics Relays
NASSAU, Bahamas --- Three former Bulldogs and a current assistant helped qualify their teams for the Paris Olympics at the World Athletics Relays in the National Stadium in Nassau over the weekend.
Matthew Boling, who finished his exceptional Georgia career in 2023, passed the baton to Lynna Irby-Jackson (formerly Lynna Irby), who completed her record-breaking time in Athens after the 2019 indoor season, in the mixed 4x400-meter relay to a gold medal and a meet record for Team USA. Unlike other countries where athletes earn immediate spots to the Games, Boling and Irby-Jackson will now have to qualify to be on the relay at the Olympics during the U.S. Trials in late June.
2013 NCAA indoor 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo (formerly Shaunae Miller) ran the anchor leg for the Bahamas in the mixed relay as the quartet also earned their spot for the Games. She is expected to run for the Bahamas in the Olympics in the relay for the first time.
Current UGA sprints assistant Bailey Lear, who recently concluded her career as a USC Lady Trojan, ran the third leg on Team USA’s winning women’s 4x400m relay team. Like Boling and Irby-Jackson, Lear will have a chance to qualify for a spot on Team USA’s relay during the Trials this summer.
Boling, a native of Houston, Texas, led off with a 45.11 to establish the United States’ initial lead. Irby, who hails from Indianapolis, preserved the edge with a 50.10 before Willington Wright and Kendall Ellis closed out the race for gold. Boling was the only member of Team USA’s team who had run on the world record-setting and world champion squad in the event at the World Championships last August.
After Quanera Hayes and Gabby Thomas helped position Team USA’s women’s 4x400m relay team in the lead, Lear clocked a 51.33 to keep her team comfortably in the lead before handing to Alexis Holmes to bring the race home for gold.
Miller-Uibo is the two-time defending Olympic 400m champion and proved it in the mixed relay as she and the other Bahamian legs combined for a national record time of 3:12.81 to win their section.
This punches the ticket for the chance that Boling, Irby-Jackson, Miller-Uibo and Lear to advance to the Olympic Games in Paris during the track and field portion on Aug. 1-11.
