Canada wins first-ever mixed 4x100m relay gold at 2025 World Athletics Relays
GUANGZHOU, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Team Canada sprinted into the history books on Sunday, capturing the inaugural gold medal in the mixed 4x100m relay at the 2025 World Athletics Relays here with a season-best 40.30 seconds.
The mixed 4x100m relay is a newly trialed event by World Athletics, and Guangzhou marked its debut on the global stage. Following a woman-woman-man-man running order, teams faced the unique challenge of baton exchanges between women and men at top speed. Records for the event will be officially recognized starting 1 January 2026.
Canada gained a decisive edge during the third leg when Duan Asemota powered through the curve and handed off in the lead. The team ultimately held off Jamaica by 0.14 seconds to claim gold, while Britain finished third in 40.88 seconds.
"It's really exciting whenever you're the first to do anything. It's something that's never gonna be changed," said Asemota. "I'm the one who bridges the guys and girls. So for me, I think the biggest challenge of this new event was the hand height-sometimes we're a little bit higher than the girls. But once we sorted that out in training, everything else came together pretty great. The key is to trust your team."
Sprinters also embraced the concept of the new relay format. Chen Guanfeng, who ran for the seventh-placed Chinese team, said: "This event creates more opportunities for sprinters to compete internationally. We were concerned at first about the speed gap between male and female athletes, but with practice, we've found good synergy."
"There's a saying in China," Chen added with a smile, "'When men and women work together, the workload feels lighter.' I think this event shows the world once again that what men can do, women can also do-and we can compete side by side."
In other finals, the United States claimed the mixed 4x400m relay title, clocking a championship record of 3:09.54. Britain won the women's 4x100m gold with a time of 42.21 seconds. The men's 4x100m title went to South Africa, who finished with a world-leading time of 37.61 seconds.
In the 4x400m relay, Spain surged to victory in the women's category with a national record of 3:24.13, and South Africa took men's gold with a world-leading time of 2:57.50.
The World Athletics Relays also serve as a key qualifier for relay events at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, featuring six events including men's, women's, and mixed 4x100m and 4x400m formats. In five of the six events (excluding the mixed 4x100m), the top 14 teams will secure spots at Tokyo 2025.
Eight teams in each event had already booked their tickets during Saturday's round 1. On Sunday, six more spots were up for grabs. In the men's 4x400m relay, the United States, which had failed to qualify directly the previous day due to a dropped baton, bounced back in 2:58.68 to earn its place in Tokyo.
Host nation China had a strong showing as well, setting a national record of 3:13.39 in the mixed 4x400m relay to qualify for the World Championships. The Chinese teams also secured berths in the men's 4x400m relay, and both the men's and women's 4x100m relays.
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