Canadian sprinters qualify 4 relay teams for 2027 world championships

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The men’s 4×100-metre relay team of Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Jerome Blake was among four Canadian foursomes to secure their place at next year’s world championships thanks to results at the World Athletics Relays on Saturday.

De Grasse, Brown, Rodney, and Blake – the reigning Olympic champions and world championship silver medallists – won their qualifying heat in Gaborone, Botswana, in a world-leading time of 37.56 seconds. That time is just six-hundredths of a second off the mark they ran to win gold at Paris 2024.

The result earned the Canadians a spot in Sunday’s final as well as automatic qualification at the 2027 World Athletics Championships.

Earlier in the day, Canada also qualified for next year’s worlds in the women’s and mixed 4x100m disciplines, with one team breaking a world record along the way.

Eliezer Adjibi, Marie-Éloïse Leclair, Duan Asemota, and Audrey Leduc crossed the line in a mixed 4x100m world-record time of 40.07 seconds. That earned the team qualification for next year’s worlds, and a place in Sunday’s final.

They’ll also be running for a spot in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest. The top six teams in each of the mixed relay finals in Gaborone will automatically qualify for September’s event in the Hungarian capital.

WATCH | Canadians blaze to record-setting time in mixed 4x100m relay:

Canada breaks 4×100 mixed relay world record at World Athletics Relays 2026

The Canadian team of Eliezer Adjibi, Marie-Éloise Leclair, Duan Asemota, and Audrey Leduc ran a time of 40.07 to set a new world record in Botswana.

The Canadian hold on the record was short-lived, as Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake, Tina Clayton, Kadrian Goldson, and Tia Clayton ran to a time of 39.99 to win the day’s third heat.

Leduc said she was confident her team has only begun to show what they are capable of.

“I believe we can do better than that, so let us wait for tomorrow,” she said in a release. “We are great athletes, we are super fast, and we knew that we could expect that.”

WATCH | Jamaica sets world record in mixed 4x100m:

Canada’s 4x100m mixed relay world record broken minutes later by Jamaica

The Canadian team of Eliezer Adjibi, Marie-Éloise Leclair, Duan Asemota, and Audrey Leduc watched as Jamaica surpassed their newly set world record, with a time of 39.99 just two heats later.

Leduc and Leclair later joined fellow Canadians Sade McCreath and Donna Ntambue to finish second in their women’s 4x100m qualifying heat.

Ntambue crossed the line in 42.39, just shy of the national record of 42.38, but good enough to book a Canadian spot at next year’s world championships and advance to Sunday’s final.

WATCH | Canadian women’s 4x100m team qualifies for 2027 worlds:

Canada’s women’s 4x100m relay team qualify for the World Athletics Relay finals

Canada’s team of Sade McCreath, Donna Ntambue, Marie-Éloïse Leclair and Audrey Leduc qualify for the women’s 4×100 metres final with a season’s best time of 42.39.

In the women’s 4x400m, Zoe Sherar, Lauren Gale, Jasneet Nijjar, and Dianna Proctor combined to win their heat in a time of 3:23.52, qualifying them for the final, and earn a spot at next summer’s world championships.

The Canadian mixed 4x400m team of Ryder Rattee, Savannah Sutherland, Nathan George, and Emma Cannan finished fifth (3:14.93) in their heat and did not qualify for Sunday’s final. Deandre Watkin, Shana Kaye Anderson, Antonio Watson, and Rushell Clayton of Jamaica won the heat in a time of 3:11.68.

The Canadian team will have one more chance to qualify for worlds when they compete in the second qualifying round on Sunday.

Action continues at the World Relays on Sunday at 8 a.m ET and will stream live on CBCSports.ca and on CBC Gem. Additional coverage will be broadcast on CBC Sports Presents on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

WATCH | Canadian women’s 4x400m team wins heat, qualifies for worlds:

Canada’s women’s 4x400m relay team wins heat to qualify for World Athletics Championships

Dianna Proctor, Jasneet Nijjar, Lauren Gale, and Zoe Sherar raced to a time of 3:23.52 to qualify for the World Athletics Championships and the World Athletics Relays final.