Liberia’s 4x100m men’s relay team delivered an outstanding performance at the World Athletics Relays Championship in the Bahamas on Sunday, April 5, to secure a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic games.

The team slightly missed out on an automatic qualification spot on Saturday, April 4 after finishing fourth behind the United States of America, Italy, and Brazil. It completed the race, clocking 39.07 seconds before making a huge comeback to book a place for the games, which will take place later this year in Paris.

With Akeem Sirleaf, Emmanuel Matadi, Jabez Reeves, and Joseph Fahnbulleh running, Liberia made a huge comeback by qualifying after finishing second behind Germany in the first heat. The qualification was secured with a new national record of 38.65 seconds.

For the first time in 24 years, Liberia’s 4x100m relay team qualified for the Olympics. The last time the team qualified was in 2000, when they made it to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, when 40 teams could enter.

The historic victory was inspired by the last runner, Joseph Fahnbulleh, who ran 9.7 seconds in the 96 meters to secure a sport for Liberia in Paris.

Reacting to Liberia’s qualification via his Instagram, Fahnbulleh expressed his joy in representing Liberia at the highest level of athletics.

“Momma, we’re going to Paris. Grateful for the opportunity to run for my country at the highest level. Doing this for my country is feeling like no other. I do it for y’all and the people who follow suit,” he wrote.

Fahnbulleh first took the world by storm at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where he became the only African to compete in the men’s 200m final. He ran 20.46 seconds in the first round, 19.99 seconds in the semifinals, and 19.98 seconds in the final, where he finished fifth.

Featured photo courtesy of World Athletics Federation