Australia's Men's 4x400m runs 2:57.30 at World Relays 2026
Australia's men’s 4x400m ran 2:57.30 on world relays 2026 opening day in Gaborone, Botswana, setting a national record and beating Botswana in qualification. The mark lifted the quartet to seventh on the all-time list and was one of three Australian relay records on a busy first day.
Reece Holder said after the race: “Everyone is feeling unreal! The team is strong and the time has always been there, it’s just been about getting the race done”. He added: “We’re still a young team and we have many years to come, so we’ll just be lowering that time down.”
Gaborone delivers three marks
The men’s 4x400m was not the only Australian group to move the bar. The mixed 4x400m followed with 3:10.57, another national record, and that time ranked as the fifth fastest overall in the first round.
That mixed result also carried direct advancement. Australia moved into tomorrow’s final and secured place in the 2027 World Athletics Championships, cutting down a previous national mark of 3:12.20 set at last year’s championships.
Mixed 4x400m keeps rolling
Cooper Sherman, Ellie Beer, Thomas Reynolds and Mia Gross produced the 3:10.57 in the same opening-day push that produced Holder’s 4x400m breakthrough. Gross said: “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”.
She also pointed to the team’s expectation before the race: “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.”
Men's 4x100m stays in touch
Australia’s men’s 4x100m added another clean result by matching the 37.87-second national mark. Lachlan Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi, Christopher Ius and Rohan Browning finished third in their heat, advanced to tomorrow’s final as the fifth fastest team in qualifying, and booked passage to the 2027 World Athletics Championships.
Kennedy said, “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.” He also 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.”
Women’s 4x400m faces Round 2
The only Australian quartet not to move straight through was the women’s 4x400m. Alice Dixon, Alanah Yukich, Alexia Loizou and Sarah Carli finished fifth in their heat in 3:27.44 and will return for tomorrow’s Qualification Round 2.
That leaves Australia with three relay groups already into finals or championship qualification after one day, while the women’s 4x400m still has work to do to join them.
