GABORONE, May 3 (Xinhua) -- China's women's 4x100m relay team advanced to the final as heat winners at the 2026 World Athletics Relays here on Saturday and secured a berth at the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
Held at the National Stadium in Gaborone, capital of Botswana, the competition serves as a key qualifying event for Beijing 2027, with 12 teams in each discipline earning berths. And it is also an important qualifier for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship to be held in Budapest in September, where the top six mixed relay teams will qualify directly.
Under the qualification system, eight of the 12 available places in each event were decided on Saturday, with four more to be filled via a second round on Sunday. In each event, the top two in each of three heats plus the next two fastest teams reached the final and secured Beijing 2027 qualification. The remaining teams will contest the additional four spots on Sunday.
In the women's 4x100m heats, China fielded a blend of experience and youth in Heat 2, with Liang Xiaojing, Liu Guoyi, Zhu Junying and Chen Yujie. Liang gave China an early advantage on the opening leg, before smooth baton exchanges from Liu, Zhu and anchor Chen kept them in front all the way, clocking 42.62 seconds to top the heat and booking a place in Sunday's final.
Liu, making her world-level debut, said she felt some nerves at the start but trusted the team.
"Although we are a newly formed team, we worked together very well," Chen told Xinhua. "After taking the lead on the opening leg, we trusted one another and completed the race smoothly. We hope to perform even better in the final."
Defending champion Britain was disqualified in the same heat. Other women's 4x100m finalists are Spain, Jamaica, Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland and Portugal.
In the men's 4x100m, the Chinese quartet of Shi Junhao, Zeng Keli, Wang Shengjie and He Jinxian finished third in Heat 3 in 38.02 seconds, missing automatic qualification by just 0.01 seconds behind Britain.
Host Botswana delighted the home crowd in Heat 1 as Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo powered through the anchor leg to secure second place in 37.96 seconds, a national record, behind the United States. Defending champion South Africa, Canada, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands also reached the final.
This edition's mixed relays follow a man-woman-man-woman running order. In the mixed 4x100m, China finished fifth in its heat in 41.43 seconds and failed to advance. Canada, champion of the inaugural event in Guangzhou in 2025, set a world record of 40.07 in the opening heat, only for Jamaica to lower the mark to 39.99 later in the session. Germany, the United States, Spain and Britain qualified by finishing in the top two of their heats, while the Netherlands and Nigeria advanced as the fastest non-automatic qualifiers.
The Chinese mixed 4x400m squad clocked three minutes and 18.47 seconds for seventh in its heat and were eliminated. Britain led qualifiers with a world-leading 3:09.69, joined in the final by the United States, Spain, Jamaica, Poland, Kenya, Australia and Italy.
In the men's 4x400m, China suffered a blow when second-leg runner Ju Tianqi pulled up with a muscle strain. Defending champion South Africa topped the qualifiers in 2:58.94 in the same heat, with Australia, Botswana, the Netherlands, Portugal, Zimbabwe, Qatar and Belgium also progressing.
In the women's 4x400m relay, defending champion Spain won its heat in 3:24.44, while Britain advanced with a world-leading 3:21.28. Norway, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Germany also qualified for the final. China did not participate.
China will have another chance on Sunday to chase Beijing 2027 qualification in the mixed 4x100m, mixed 4x400m, men's 4x100m and men's 4x400m through the second qualifying round. ■
