Twenty-four hours after briefly holding the world record for the new 4x100m mixed relay event, Canada stepped onto the second step of the podium behind Jamaica at the World Relay Championships.
The champions of the day won in 39.62 seconds, improving their own world record set on Saturday in the qualifiers.
Audrey Leduc staged a comeback in the final relay of the day to beat her American rival in the last meters. The United States had to settle for bronze, just ten hundredths behind Canada.
Marie-Ève Leclerc, Eliezer Adjibi, and Duan Asemota carried the baton on the first three segments at Debswana track in Botswana, in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Before this silver medal, the event’s champions in 2025 had already secured Canada’s spot at the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
Leduc and Leclair also combined their efforts with Ontarian Sade McCreath and Quebecer Donna Ntambue, twenty minutes later, to win silver in the women’s 4x100m relay. The Canadians were in the lead in the final baton exchange between Leclair and Ntambue, but the latter was overtaken by her Jamaican rival Elaine Thompson-Herah, who stopped the clock at exactly 42 seconds.
By finishing the race in 42.17, the Canadian women set a national record.
In the men’s event, Canada, the reigning Olympic champion, had to settle for 7th place after the right thigh injury of the second relay runner Jerome Blake. He struggled with difficulty before passing the baton to Brendon Rodney.
Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown completed the quartet, as they did in Paris in 2024. The Americans took the gold in 37.43 ahead of South Africa and Germany.
[Context: The article discusses Canada’s performance at the World Relay Championships] [Fact Check: The information presented in the article is accurate and based on the events at the championships]
