(Photo World Athletics)
The first eight teams in each relay event at the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone have secured their places for the World Athletics Championships Beijing 27 following the opening day of competition.
Across the women’s and men’s 4x100m, women’s and men’s 4x400m, mixed 4x100m and mixed 4x400m, the top two teams in each heat, plus the next two fastest teams in each event, qualified for Beijing and advanced to Sunday’s finals in Gaborone.
The remaining teams return for an additional qualifying round on Sunday, where four teams – the top two in each heat – will secure the final automatic qualification places available for the 2027 World Championships.
The finals, meanwhile, will decide prize money and preferential lane seeding positions for the World Championships.
The mixed relay events in Gaborone also serve as the main qualification route for the World Athletics Ultimate Championship Budapest 26. The top six teams in each of the mixed 4x100m and mixed 4x400m finals on Sunday will automatically qualify for Budapest.
The competition started in sensational style as Jamaica’s 39.99 in the third of the three mixed 4x100m heats beat the world record of 40.07 set by Canada in heat one. That had improved on the world best of 40.30 achieved by Canada when the mixed 4x100m made its global debut at last year’s World Relays in Guangzhou.
Using the new running order of man, woman, man, woman, Blake handed the baton to Tina Clayton, who then passed it on to Goldson before Tia Clayton ran away unchallenged to break 40 seconds in this event for the first time.
Great Britain & NI finished second in that heat in 40.72.
Eliezer Adjibi, Marie-Éloise Leclair, Duan Asemota and Audrey Leduc formed the Canadian team that ran 40.07, Leduc running a storming anchor leg to hold off Germany (40.15), Netherlands (40.20) and Nigeria (40.24), who all also dipped under the previous world best.
Those four teams all also qualified for the final on Sunday (3) and automatically qualified for the World Athletics Championships Beijing 27 – with the top two teams in each of the three heats and the next two quickest securing their spots. On Sunday, teams will also race for places for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in September – the top six teams in the final will book those places.
USA won the second mixed 4x100m heat in 40.36 ahead of Spain (40.51).
“It is an honour to represent our country and we wear our colours with pride,” said Tina Clayton. “When you get the opportunity to put on the green, yellow and black, it is a real privilege, so we are grateful.”
After running their short-lived world record of 40.07, Leduc said Canada can go even quicker in the final.
“I believe we can do better than that, so let us wait for tomorrow,” she said. “We are great athletes, we are super fast, and we knew that we could expect that.”
Jamaica top qualifiers in women’s 4x100m
Jamaica also led the women’s 4x100m heats as two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson combined with Jodean Williams, Lavanya Williams and Jonielle Smith to clock 41.96 and win the third and final heat.
As for all events in Gaborone, the top two teams in each of the three heats and the next two quickest automatically qualified for the final and also booked their spots for the World Athletics Championships Beijing 27.
Germany finished second behind Jamaica in that third heat in 42.44, Sina Kammerschmitt and Sophia Junk returning to the track a short while after forming part of their nation’s mixed 4x100m team.
“The goal is to win the gold – diamond on gold,” said Jackson. “This is my first time in Africa and I am so excited. People turned up in large numbers and it has been so loud. I love it here and the people are so welcoming.”
Spain won the first heat in 42.26 from Canada in 42.39, both teams also featuring team-members from the earlier mixed 4x100m – María Isabel Pérez and Jaël Bestué for Spain, and Audrey Leduc and Marie-Éloise Leclair for Canada.
Pérez and Bestué also starred on Spain’s team that placed runner-up at last year’s World Relays in Guangzhou and they will aim to go one better in tomorrow’s final, but they won’t be joined by last year’s champions Great Britain & NI as their quartet was disqualified from the second heat after a baton exchange outside the takeover zone.
China won that second heat in 42.62 and world indoor 60m champion Zaynab Dosso anchored Italy to second place in 42.94.
The final will also feature Poland (43.09) and Portugal, whose national record of 43.11 saw them qualify a women’s 4x100m team for the World Athletics Championships for the first time, by just 0.003 of a second ahead of Switzerland.
Reigning Olympic and world champions USA finished fourth in their heat in 43.33 but will have another chance to race for World Championships qualification in the additional round on Sunday.
Canada run world lead as Botswana delight home crowd in men’s 4x100m
The Canadian Olympic title-winning quartet of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse reunited to run the fastest time in the world so far this year in the men’s 4x100m heats.
Their 37.56 to win the second heat is just 0.06 off the time they ran to win that Olympic title in Paris and they will be joined in the final in Gaborone – as well as at the World Championships in Beijing – by their fellow Olympic medallists South Africa and Great Britain, who secured the top two spots in the third heat. Akani Simbine anchored the defending World Relays champions South Africa to a heat win in 37.68, while Romell Glave reached the finish line in 38.01 for Great Britain, denying China by just 0.01. Germany ran a national record to finish second to Canada in their heat, clocking 37.67.
But it was the host nation who received the loudest cheers as Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo took Botswana from fourth to second place during the anchor leg of the first heat, crossing the finish line in front of passionate home fans in a national record of 37.96 to make the final and qualify his nation’s first-ever men’s 4x100m team for the World Athletics Championships.
That heat was won by world champions USA, Pjai Austin anchoring the team to heat victory in 37.77.
“I wouldn’t say there was pressure. I am the one who put myself under pressure,” said Tebogo, who formed part of Botswana’s world 4x400m title-winning team in Tokyo. “I told them (his teammates) that they just need to bring the baton alive and I will give it my best. Looking at the youngsters we have here, for me it is all about getting them motivated and trying to push and grow as many 100m sprinters as possible. The 4x100m is something new that we would like to develop for the country so that we can also be there at every championship.”
Netherlands finished third behind USA and Botswana, their time of 38.00 fast enough to see them progress to the final and achieve automatic World Championships qualification along with Australia – 2025 world indoor 60m silver medallist Lachlan Kennedy teaming up with Joshua Azzopardi, Christopher Ius and Rohan Browning to equal the Oceania record of 37.87.
Teams qualified for WCH Beijing 27 and competing in the finals on Sunday:
Women’s 4x100m: Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Poland, Portugal, Spain
Men’s 4x100m: Australia, Botswana, Canada, Germany, Great Britain & NI, Netherlands, South Africa, United States
Women’s 4x400m: Canada, Czechia, Germany, Great Britain & NI, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain
Men’s 4x400m: Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Netherlands, Portugal, Qatar, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Mixed 4x100m: Canada, Germany, Great Britain & NI, Jamaica, Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, United States
Mixed 4x400m: Australia, Great Britain & NI, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Poland, Spain, United States
