Records fall in historic World Relays

Kabelo Boranabi | Tuesday May 5, 2026 09:23

It was the men’s 4x400m team, which produced the standout performance of the championships.

The quartet of Lee Eppie, Letsile Tebogo, Bayapo Ndori and Collen Kebinatshipi stopped the clock at 2:54.47, setting a new World Relays record and registering the second-fastest time in history, just 0.18 seconds shy of the world record held by the United States of America.

It was a performance built on control and precision. Clean baton exchanges, disciplined pacing, and consistent splits across all four legs saw the local team move through the field early before holding their form under pressure in the closing stages.

The result underlined local team’s steady rise in the one-lap relay. Once seen as contenders, they have now evolved into pace-setters at global level, with growing depth and consistency in the 4x400m race.

The race itself went down as one of the fastest in relay history. South Africa claimed second in 2:55.07, a national record, while Australia finished third in 2:55.20, also a national and Oceanian record.

Three sub-2:56 times in a single final highlighted the extraordinary standard on display. Beyond Team Botswana’s headline act, the championships produced a wave of records across events.

Jamaica set a world record in the mixed 4x100m with 39.62, while the USA established a championship record in the mixed 4x400m in 3:07.47.

Spain's women’s 4x400m, clocked 3:21.25 and Germany men’s 4x100m ran 37.67 to deliver respective national records reinforcing the global competitiveness of the Gaborone held edition.

In comparison to previous editions, Gaborone 2026 stood out for both quality and balance.

While earlier events such as Nassau, in 2014 produced more world records overall by virtue of being the first edition, and others like Chorzów, Poland in 2021 were defined by depth across fields, Gaborone delivered a rare combination a world record, multiple championship records, and one of the fastest relay races ever assembled.

The local team is also showing promise in the men's 4x100m after lowering the national record to 37.96 in the heats and for the first time booked a place at the World Athletics Championship.