After all is said and done, it’s on your marks!
Mqondisi Dube | Friday May 1, 2026 10:33
The eighth edition of the World Relays has come to Africa, and critically for Botswana, it is being held in Gaborone. It is a first for Africa, as all the previous seven editions since the inaugural one in 2014 have been held outside the continent.
The first instalment was held in the Bahamas, which has enjoyed the honour of hosting the first three editions.
The Bahamas has become the unofficial home of the biennial global competition, and by 2028, the archipelago country will have hosted the event five times.
Thomas Robinson Stadium in the Bahamas capital of Nassau has become the ‘ceremonial home’ and is the venue that has hosted the tournament the most. The National Stadium in Gaborone will this weekend join the illustrious list of venues that have hosted the 12-year-old competition, which is administered by World Athletics.
Japan’s Yokohama International Stadium became the first venue outside Thomas Robinson Stadium to host the competition in 2019. In 2021, the competition moved to Poland, where the city of Chorzów was the host, with the Silesian Stadium being the venue. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it took three years to hold the next edition, which returned to the Bahamas in 2024. It was in the Bahamas that Botswana’s men’s 4x400m team created a piece of history, winning a gold medal.
Last year, the competition was held in Guangzhou, China, before the world’s fastest athletes headed to Gaborone for this weekend’s showdown.
Gaborone will forever hold the distinct record of hosting the first ever World Relays on African soil, whilst the 22,500-seater National Stadium gets the honour in the venue’s leader board. Botswana is not a stranger to hosting global competitions, but the World Relays are the biggest. It was in 2007 that Botswana hosted the CAF Under-17 tournament, which had eight nations participating.
The next big competition was the 2014 Africa Youth Games, which drew more than 2,000 athletes from 51 countries, which, quantitatively, became the biggest tournament the country has hosted.
In 2017, Botswana was given the rights to organise the Netball Youth World Cup, which attracted 20 nations from across the globe. The World Relays have attracted more than 700 athletes from 40 nations. The programme begins at 2pm on both days and ends at 4:30pm.
Forget the debates that raged around the marketing or branding of the Debswana World Relays. The real competition is here. Gaborone will explode in a fireball of track activity as more than 700 athletes drawn from 40 countries take to the starting point for the first ever World Relays competition on African soil, writes MQONDISI DUBE
Day One Programme – Saturday
Local Time Sex Event Round
14:05 X 4x100 Metres Relay Qualifying Round 1
14:30 X 4x400 Metres Relay Qualifying Round 1
15:05 W 4x100 Metres Relay Qualifying Round 1
15:30 M 4x100 Metres Relay Qualifying Round 1
15:55 W 4x400 Metres Relay Qualifying Round 1
16:30 M 4x400 Metres Relay Qualifying Round 1
Day Two – Sunday
Local Time Sex Event Round
14:02 X 4x100 Metres Relay World Ch. Qualifying Round 2
14:20 X 4x400 Metres Relay World Ch. Qualifying Round 2
14:44 W 4x400 Metres Relay World Ch. Qualifying Round 2
15:08 M 4x400 Metres Relay World Ch. Qualifying Round 2
15:30 W 4x100 Metres Relay World Ch. Qualifying Round 2
15:47 M 4x100 Metres Relay World Ch. Qualifying Round 2
16:05 X 4x100 Metres Relay Final
16:13 X 4x400 Metres Relay Final
16:24 W 4x100 Metres Relay Final
16:32 M 4x100 Metres Relay Final
16:40 W 4x400 Metres Relay Final
16:51 M 4x400 Metres Relay Final