Team GB Report from Guangzhou 2025

Team GB report

Participation in the World Relays would have to be deemed a success for team GB. The main object of the exercise was to qualify all 5 relay teams for the World Championships in Tokyo in September. The outcome was “mission accomplished”. It is said that school teachers in Britain who cannot think what to write on a student report card, write “could do better”. My assessment of Team GB is satisfactory but could have done better. Relay medals are important to us; we collected 5 at the Paris Olympics.

There were two medals. Gold in the women’s 4 by 100 was a great achievement. The US team included Mikiah Brisco, Kayla White and Twanisha Terry but they were only 4^th. Jamaica had Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price and Shericka Jackson but they were only third. Britain is strong in women’s sprint but Darryl Neita, Dina Asher-Smith and Imani Lansiquot from the Olympic medaling team were absent.

Bianca Williams on second leg is a solid experienced runner who never lets anyone down. Amy Hunt on third leg has already competed in the European Indoors, World Indoors and two Diamond Leagues this year and she is getting better and better. She is, of course, listed for Doha next weekend! But the selectors trusted two 20 year-olds to start and finish the race, both making their senior international debut, Nia Wedderburn-Goodison and Success Eduan. Asha Philip, serial relay medalist, always on first leg, who had been in the team in the prelim, was switched to the mixed Sprint for the final

Wedderburn-Goodison seemed to take it all in her stride commenting afterwards: “I didn’t even know what was going on as we were lane eight so I don’t know what was happening behind me. I was gritting my teeth and said to myself go, go, go! I saw Amy and passed it to her, I was so relieved to get the baton out my hand. Then I got to watch everyone, I saw Amy run a great leg, Bianca run a great leg then Success ran people down! I was happy! It means a lot, I have come up with Success from Under 13 level, racing each other and now we are roommates and we have won a gold medal, it is just insane”. 

Success Eduan – who certainly lived up to her name – was unfazed by what was happening: “I did not think too much about other athletes, I just knew that if I gave all myself, it would come out…