Anchor leg
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The anchor leg is an athletics term given to the final portion or 'leg' of a relay race whether it be the 4X100m also known as the sprint relay or the longer 4x400m relay.
There are athletes that as individuals are not exceptional who have thrived and collected major championship medals competing in this position. It's a crucial contribution as whatever position the anchor leg runner crosses the line; determines where the entire team places in the race.
Usually you put your fastest sprinter on the Anchor Leg though not necessarily, as stated some athletes excel at relay running without being known as great sprinters in their own right. Pam Marshall at the 1987 World Athletics Championships in Rome ran the Anchor Leg for the USA team however she was not the fastest sprinter on said team. She convincingly beat Marlies Gohr in the final clocking a time 10.11 secs to Gohr's 10.41 who had a far superior individual career than Marshall's.
Other great athletes have performed even greater feats on this leg Carl Lewis never failed to win a relay race when he 'anchored' the U.S team; he helped break the World Record in this event a staggering 5 times, the time he helped clock at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games of 37.40 seconds still stands.
Evelyn Ashford when anchoring the U.S sprint relay team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games ran a reported 9.99 seconds, the fastest a women has ever run. The U.S team of Alice Brown a 1st Leg specialist, Jeanette Bolden 2nd Leg and Chandra Cheeseborough 3rd Leg won the event by the biggest margin in the events history.
Philip Brown a U.K 400m runner collected Olympic, World and European medals as the anchor leg runner for the national team however he never medalled individually, rarely advancing beyond the preliminary rounds over 400m flat.
