Relay records tumble as Aussie sprinters stamp presence on world stage

Australia has confirmed its status as a relay nation on the opening day of the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana where three Australian records fell and the Men’s 4x400m produced a top 10 performance in global history.

The Men’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m and Men’s 4x100m all punched their tickets to tomorrow’s finals and the 2027 World Athletics Championships on a historic day for Australian athletics.

Leading the charge was the quartet of Luke van Ratingen (NSWIS, Ben Liddy), Reece Holder (QLD, Christopher Dale), Matthew Hunt (NSW, Ben Liddy) and Aidan Murphy (SA, Nik Hagicostas) who toppled hometown heroes Botswana in the qualification round of the Men’s 4x400m, stopping the clock in a new national record of 2:57.30.

The time lifts Australia to seventh on the all-time list and torches the former mark of 2:59.70 set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, with the team emerging as a genuine world title contender in tomorrow’s final.

“Everyone is feeling unreal! The team is strong and the time has always been there, it’s just been about getting the race done,” Holder said.

“We’re still a young team and we have many years to come, so we’ll just be lowering that time down.

“All I can say right now is – we’re hot.”

Also setting a new national record of 3:10.57, Australia’s Mixed 4x400m team of Cooper Sherman (VIC, Neville Down), Ellie Beer (QLD, Brett Robinson), Thomas Reynolds (VIC, Matthew Oakley) and Mia Gross (VIC, John Nicolosi) advanced to both tomorrow’s final and the 2027 World Athletics Championships.

Clocking the fifth fastest time overall in the first round, the quartet lowered the former Australian record of 3:12.20 set at last year’s instalment of the championships, successfully navigating a strong heat draw which featured the United States, Spain and Ireland.

“That was one of the coolest experiences that I have ever been a part of, I could feel the whole stadium yelling and screaming. I genuinely ran with goosebumps,” Gross said.

“Tom Reynolds has been saying this entire week that we are going to break the Australian record. We knew that we could do it, but to do it but by that much and with such a great team, it’s amazing.”

Joining the national record party was Australia’s 4x100m men who equalled the 37.87-second mark set last year, led off by sub-10 second man Lachlan Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin) who combined with Joshua Azzopardi (NSWIS, Rob Marks), Christopher Ius (NSWIS, Andrew Murphy) and Rohan Browning (NSWIS, Jack Edwards) to achieve the feat.

The team finished in third place of their heat to advance to the 2027 World Athletics Championships, also progressing to tomorrow’s final where they will challenge for the global podium as the fifth fastest team in qualifying.

“I think we’ll go really well tomorrow. That’s just the standard now that we want to be competing for medals each year, and I think that tomorrow we can all go a little bit faster,” Kennedy said.

“We have a real red-hot chance, but we have to back it up. Rohan man, he’s still got it – unc has still got it.”

The Women’s 4x400m team of Alice Dixon (NSW, Katie Edwards), Alanah Yukich (WA, Rose Monday), Alexia Loizou (VIC, Matt Carter) and Sarah Carli (NSWIS, Abbie Taddeo) claimed fifth place in their heat in a time of 3:27.44, set to return for tomorrow’s Qualification Round 2.

While no Australian record has officially been set in the Mixed 4x100m, the Gaborone lineup of Jai Gordon (QLD, Jackie Gallagher), Lakara Stallan (NSWIS, Andrew Murphy), Calab Law (QLD, Andrew Iselin) and Chloe Mannix-Power (QLD, Brett Robinson) produced a strong showing of 40.78-seconds to narrowly miss tomorrow’s final – also returning for Qualification Round 2.

Australia’s 4x100m women were disqualified for an illegal change but will also return tomorrow for another chance at qualification for the 2027 World Athletics Championships, led by Torrie Lewis (QLD, Laurent Meuwly) who ran alongside Ebony Lane (QLD, Christopher Dale), Monique Hanlon (QLD, Luke Donatini) and Georgia Harris (QLD, Paul Pearce).

Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics