by Stuart Weir
World Athletics Relays
The latest edition of the World Athletics Relays is taking place in Guangzhou China, this weekend. With the World Indoor Championships held in Nanjing and last month Diamond Leagues in Xiamen and Shanghai, followed by the world relays, you could be forgiven for going to check if World Athletics still has its headquarters in Monaco or if it has decamped to China.
Like most people in our sport I love watching relays – of course I do, I am from UK and we win most of our medals at global championships in relays. I always think that the World Relays is an outstanding event – almost! For many years it was held in Bahamas. What’s not to like about an event where you can chat to an athlete on a sunbed on the beach? I speak from experience!
What I mean by “an outstanding event – almost” is that to have the best athletes in the world competing in relay after relay sounds just so much fun. The problem is where the event fits into the season. It’s normally scheduled right at the beginning of the season. I well remember an Olympic gold medalist telling me at the event in Bahamas that he loved running relays but was not prepared to run flat out at the end of April because his body was not ready for that and to do so would risk the rest of the season. Understandable but perhaps frustrating.
The location is important too. Bahamas was a lovely place to go and convenient for USA, Caribbean etc. I understand the need to take events around the world – and that Nanjing was really the 2020 event – but going to China twice for global championships in two months was not an attractive option for many athletes. If you don’t agree with that comment, look at the athletes who ran in the relay finals in the Paris Olympics count how many of them were in Guangzhou.
I remember a British coach who was really enthusiastic about the World Relays arguing that it should be an end of season fun event to showcase our sport. World Athletics has done the opposite by making it a qualifying event for World Championships. But for all the team ethos of relays, our sport is essentially an individual sport.
Athletics Guangzhou 2025, Relays photo by World Athletics
The simple fact is – and the entry list for Guangzhou confirms it – if you are a serious contender for an individual medal in the 2025 World Championships in September, you are not going to travel halfway across the world in May to run a relay. Grand Slam has changed the landscape, offering large sums of money to athletes in convenient locations. The World Relays is just one of several options for the elite athlete in 2025 and honestly not the top priority. Speaking for myself, I have been to the event in Bahamas and also in Tokyo when it was in the year before the Olympics giving me an opportunity to check hotels etc. But I never considered going to Guangzhou.
An added excitement this year was seeing the newest relay the mixed 4 by 100 with Canada fastest qualifier for the final with 40.90. USA recorded a time of 1:05.77 – which included dropping, finding and picking up the baton. Three teams did not finish. The one woman-to-man changeover proved tricky with the men tending to set off too quickly.
Other fastest finishers were:
Mixed 4X 400 USA 3:11.37
Men’s 4X400 South Africa 3:00:00
Women’s 4X400 USA 3:26.05
Men’s 4X100 South Africa 37.84
Women’s 4X100 Spain 42.18 NR
Special congratulations to the Spanish women’s 4X100 who beat a Jamaican team with Shelly-Ann and Shericka. One caveat – with four 4X400 races in two days (2 mixed and 2 men/women) team management are balancing team selection so qualification for the final was the only aim on day one. Expect many changes in strategy in the finals.
