USA seeking 13th world title in this event
Botswana has chance to build on silver from Paris
South Africa tops season list after World Relays win
USA and Botswana ran the second- and third-fastest men’s 4x400m performances in history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and they will clash again at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.
US teams have won nine of the past 10 world titles in this event and the squad this time certainly has the strength to add another to the list. With Jacory Patterson having clinched the Diamond League 400m crown and with it, a wild card for Tokyo, USA will be represented by four athletes in the individual event and they will all be available for the relay pool, together with Bryce Deadmon and Jenoah McKiver, plus hurdles specialist Rai Benjamin.
But Botswana won’t give them an easy time. The two teams finished just a tenth of a second apart in Paris, Olympic 400m hurdles champion Benjamin anchoring the winning team to an Olympic record of 2:54.43 and holding off Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who crossed the line in an African record of 2:54.53.
But relays can often spring surprises, and it won’t just be a two-team race.
South Africa pipped Belgium and Botswana at the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou in May, Zakithi Nene anchoring his team to a world-leading national record of 2:57.50.
The top five teams all broke 3:00 – the first time that had ever been achieved outside of a World Championships or Olympics – and the race didn’t include USA. The US squad missed out on the final but secured a spot for Tokyo by winning the ‘round two’ heats – as they did in 2024 before winning the Olympic final.
As well as finishing second at the World Relays, Belgium were bronze medallists at the 2019 and 2022 World Championships and have a best of 2:58.19 this year, while Great Britain & Northern Ireland set a European record of 2:55.83 to claim Olympic bronze in Paris.
France secured silver between USA and Great Britain at the last World Championships in Budapest, while Netherlands clinched the runner-up spot in Tokyo four years ago and Jamaica will also want to return to their medal winning ways of 2019 and 2022. Jamaica more recently placed second to USA at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing in March and claimed the NACAC title last month.
This year’s two other area champions – Brazil and Qatar – are also in action.
Japan finished sixth in Paris and three of the members of that team – Yuki Joseph Nakajima, Fuga Sato and Kentaro Sato– have been named for their home World Championships squad.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
AloJapan.com