South African day with two golds in Guangzhou 2025 (World Athletics Relays)

South African day with two golds
GUANGZHOU (CHN, May 11): Relay power USA won only one gold during 2nd day of WA Relays in China (mixed 4×400 m), while South Africa celebrated two golds (men 4×100 m and 4×400 m) with remaining wins going to British (4×100 m) and Spanish (4×400 m) women. In the inaugural mixesd 4×100 m Canada was the best with all-time best 40.30, World leads in men 4×100 m and 4×400 m and mixed 4×400 m. Another group of 30 teams have qualified for the World Championships Tokyo 25. Four federations – Belgium, France, Great Britain & Northern Ireland and USA – each qualified a full five teams for Tokyo, while another five – Canada, China, Germany, Italy and Poland – qualified four each. While most of the relay tickets for Tokyo have now been secured, teams that missed out in Guangzhou do still have a chance to qualify. A further two World Championships places in each of the five disciplines will be awarded based on top lists during the qualification period (25 February 2024 to 24 August 2025). With the help from WA.

Short reviews by event

Men
4x100m (R2) – China won heat three in 38.03, the fastest across the three heats, to qualify for Tokyo ahead of Australia (38.31). France won heat one in 38.31 from Ghana (38.32) with Belgium setting a national record of 38.49 to win heat 2 ahead of Kenya (38.51). Jamaica were a DNF with Julian Forte pulling up injured on leg two.

4x100m (F) – Akani Simbine anchored South Africa to victory in a world lead of 37.61 ahead of the United States (37.66, anchor Hicklin, 2nd leg World leader Bednarek) and Olympic champions Andre de Grasse (38.11). Great Britain were a DNF.

4x400m (R2) – World lead of 2:58.68 for the United States in heat two ahead of Australia (2:59.73) and Qatar (3:00.29 NR). Brazil won heat one in a slower 3:01.14 ahead of Netherlands (3:01.32) and Jamaica (3:02.00) with Poland (3:02.15) surprisingly missing out.

4x400m (F) – South Africa stormed to victory in a world lead and national record of 2:57.50. Belgium ran 2:58.19 EL, third fastest time as a nation, for…