Athletes in action at the World Athletics Relays (© Getty Images)
The timetable for the World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 has been published, as Botswana’s capital prepares to welcome the world’s fastest athletes on 2-3 May.
The ‘road to’ tracking tool has also been launched, to help athletes, media and fans follow the qualification process for the global event. Searchable by discipline, federation and qualification status, the tool provides a real-time view of each event over the course of the qualification period.
The programme includes six events:
Women’s 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay
Men’s 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay
Mixed 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay
The weekend will kick off with the heats of the mixed 4x100m and the mixed 4x400m, and conclude with the women’s and men’s 4x400m finals.
The top eight teams in the relay events at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 secured their spots for Gaborone. The remaining places will be filled via top lists from 1 January 2025 to 5 April 2026, with host nation Botswana automatically entered in all events. A maximum of 24 teams will be entered in each event. In the mixed 4x100m, all 24 teams will be selected from top lists.
As well as World Relays titles, teams will be racing for qualification for both the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest and the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
There are qualification opportunities on both days of competition in Gaborone. Six teams in both the mixed 4x100m and mixed 4x400m in Gaborone will qualify for the 2026 Ultimate Championship, while 12 teams in every event in Gaborone will qualify for the 2027 World Championships.
On day one, eight teams in each of the six relay events will qualify for Beijing through qualification round one. These teams will then contest the final to compete for World Relays titles and prize money. Another four teams in each of the six events will secure their spots for Beijing through qualification round two on day two.
The second day of competition will also see six teams in each of the two mixed relay events qualify for Budapest.
The World Relays in Gaborone will be the first time that Botswana hosts a World Athletics Series event. It will be the eighth edition of the World Relays since the event launched in The Bahamas in 2014.
World Athletics