The sprint and hurdle fields at the Florida Relays were filled with various Olympic and World Championship medalists starting their outdoor seasons, but it was an unheralded 22-year-old who stole the show, Ahmed Ali of Sudan running a national record of 20.16 (2.0m/s) to win the college invitational 200 metres.

The fact that USA successfully defended their 4x800m title at the IAAF/BTC World Relays, Bahamas 2015 wasn’t a surprise. But their margin of victory was quite a shock – not least to their opponents.

Their team might be lacking their two star performers from last year, but the USA is still the overwhelming favourite to win the women’s 4x800m in Nassau.

Expectations are high for US 800m star Ajee’ Wilson this summer and she will get a chance to impress in front of a home audience at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 30 May after the meeting organisers announced their women’s 800m field on Wednesday (22).

Much of Russia’s 4x400m pool will double in the 4x800m, where the world best dates back to 1980 with the Soviet Union’s 7:50.17 – a performance which equates to roughly 1:57.5 for each leg.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaica’s much-decorated “Pocket Rocket”, loves relays. After all, in addition to being the world and Olympic champion at 100m, the diminutive sprinter was the anchor of Jamaica’s championship-record-setting 4x100m relay team in Moscow, the second-fastest of all time at 41.29. She also led off Jamaica’s silver medal team in London, bested there only by USA’s 40.82 world record run.

A total of 55 athletes will represent the USA at the inaugural IAAF World Relays in Nassau, The Bahamas, on 24-25 May as the relays powerhouse will field squads in all events.

Ashton Eaton came close in the heptathlon and Ivan Ukhov wasn’t quite at his best in the high jump, but the enthusiastic Sopot crowd were finally rewarded with a world indoor record* in the final event of the championships, the men’s 4x400m.

The USA has medal pedigree in the women’s 800m at the World Indoor Championships – three bronzes, to be precise, courtesy of Joetta Clark in 1997, Alysia Johnson in 2010 and Erica Moore in 2012.