Botswana couldn’t have asked for a better ending to their first-ever hosting of the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone as the quartet of Lee Eppie, Letsile Tebogo, Bayapo Ndori and Collen Kebinatshipi were roared to victory in the final event of the championships – the men’s 4x400m in a new championship record time of 2:54.47.
The wild celebrations in the stands were followed by chants of “Holiday!” as the delirious crowd implored their president, Duma Boko, who was proudly watching on, for a national holiday.
As predicted, the 4x400m final produced a massive battle between the home team, who took gold at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, and defending World Relays champions South Africa, represented by Mthi Mthimkulu, Lythe Pillay, Leendert Koekemoer and Zakithi Nene.
The showdown certainly delivered with world champion Kebinatshipi outgunning Nene in the final few metres to take the gold.
Lythe Pillay was particularly outstanding, running a split of 42.66 seconds – the fastest in the entire field – in the second leg for the South Africans, who took close to three seconds off their previous national record to secure the silver in 2:55.07.
Mthimkulu, Pillay, Koekemoer and Nene 🇿🇦⚡
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) May 3, 2026
South Africa's Men's 4x400m quartet set a new National Record to go with their Silver Medal ⌚#WorldRelays | #SSAthletics pic.twitter.com/heztEIqSyR
Australia claimed the bronze in an area record of 2:55.20 with the Zimbabwe team of Dennis Bradley Hove, Zuze Leeford, Gerren Muwishi and Thandazani Ndhlovu finishing fifth in 2:59.79.
“It's still early in the season and we know by the end of the season, we are going to run faster than this,” said Eppie, who admitted the team had been hoping for a world record but still relished running in front of their home crowd. “It felt good and I don't think any country has experienced this before, so it was a great moment for us.”
The highly decorated Tebogo described it as the highlight of his career so far.
“This was the best moment in my career, I'm sure there is more to come, but this has been my biggest highlight so far. It is not about the medals at the Olympics or World Championships but how the crowd has held us together.”
The South Africans also visited the podium after the men’s 4x100m final. Having come into this event missing several of their previous medallists, Mvuyo Moss and Cheswill Johnson stepped up in impressive fashion, joining Bradley Nkoana and Akani Simbine to set a new national and continental record of 37.49 seconds to claim the silver behind the USA (37.43).
New African record alert 🚨
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) May 3, 2026
37.49s set by the men’s 4×100m relay team 🇿🇦🔥#TeamSA #ForMyCountry pic.twitter.com/eIARYZWV4X
“I’m proud of [these guys] showing up,” said Simbine, who ran his trademark anchor leg, powering past several teams on his way to the finish.
“I knew they were going to be able to do it… These guys are there. They’re doing what they need to do. Cheswill is running well, Moss is running crazy well, so why not… I expected an African record coming out of this competition and we got that.
“Yes, we wanted to get the gold medal and defend the title but we came out here, we ran well, we had an amazing time out there, we got a medal with a diamond, we can’t ask for anything more.”
Without the services of 200m Olympic champion Tebogo in their 4x100m team, Botswana were always going to find it tough going. They finished sixth in 38.35 seconds.
Earlier in the day, Kenya’s mixed 4x400m relay team of George Mutinda, Mercy Chebet, Kelvin Kiprotich Tonui and Mercy Adongo Oketch just missed out on a medal – overtaken in the last few metres by Britain to finish fourth in 3:09.93.
The Nigerian mixed 4x100m team of Favour Oghene Tejiri Ashe, Obi Jennifer Chukwuka, Chidera Ezeakor and Maria Thompson Omokwe finished sixth in 42.03 seconds in their final which was won by Jamaica in another world record time of 39.62 seconds.
It's an African one-two in the Mixed 4x400m 🥇🥈
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) May 3, 2026
South Africa and Nigeria qualify for the Beijing 2027 🇿🇦🤝🇳🇬
📺 Stream #WorldRelays on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw pic.twitter.com/fDTXfSrCct
Meanwhile, the teams that didn’t make it through to Sunday’s finals were given a second shot at qualifying for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing, needing to secure top-two places in their respective repechages to do so.
South Africa and Nigeria both secured their places in the 4x400m mixed relay. Nigeria booked their ticket in the women’s 4x100m, Senegal in the men’s 4x400m and Ghana in the men’s 4x100m.
African teams that have booked their places at the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing:
4x100m men: Botswana, South Africa, Ghana
4x400m men: Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Senegal
4x100m women: Nigeria
4x100m mixed: Nigeria
4x400m mixed: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa