On the 2ndand 3rdMay 2026, less than five months from today, the world’s best track athletes will be in Gaborone to compete in the World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26. The relays, which feature teams from various countries, will see twenty-four teams per race, compete across six events. The six events are women’s 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay, Men’s 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay as well as the 4x100m and 4x400m mixed relays.
According to the published calendar, the two-day competition will kick off with the heats of the mixed 4x100m and the mixed 4x400m, and conclude with the women’s and men’s 4x400m finals. Along with the calendar of the event, World Athletics has also launched the ‘road to’ tracking tool, which is meant to ‘help athletes, media and fans follow the qualification process for the global event.’ Unlike any time before, teams will battle for more than just prize monies and titles when they meet in Gaborone. At stake will be an opportunity for teams in some events to qualify for the inaugural 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship, World Athletics’ first mega-rich competition with a US$10 million prize pot.
“There are qualification opportunities on both days of competition in Gaborone. Six teams in both the mixed 4x100m and mixed 4x400m in Gaborone will qualify for the 2026 Ultimate Championship, while 12 teams in every event in Gaborone will qualify for the 2027 World Championships.” “On day one, eight teams in each of the six relay events will qualify for Beijing through qualification round one. These teams will then contest the final to compete for World Relays titles and prize money.
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Another four teams in each of the six events will secure their spots for Beijing through qualification round two on day two. The second day of competition will also see six teams in each of the two mixed relay events qualify for Budapest,” World Athletics says in a statement. With so much at stake, World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 Local Organising Committee (LOC) is pulling all stops to make the competition a success.
“Preparations are at an advanced stage. We are now ready to welcome teams to Botswana,” World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 chief executive officer (CEO) Moses Bantsi says. Though collaborations with stakeholders, the LOC has already ensured accommodation is available for teams and officials.
The same applies to issues of security, with Bantsi adamant that the country will deliver a safe world class event. The World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 CEO says they expect the event’s tickets to go on sale early in January. “If it had been according to our plan, the tickets would be on sale now.
But we are talking here of an international event and due diligence is needed. We have to make sure we have a smooth ticketing system where everyone will know where they are sitting. We do not want to have a situation where people are allocated the same seat.” For locals who would want to watch the world’s best track athletes live, buying tickets as soon as they go on sale is a necessity.
As this will be an international event, there will be no ticket allocation reserved for locals, meaning they will have to fight for tickets with other spectators across the world. While preparations are at an advanced stage, organisers are however still sweating over sponsorships. Bantsi says the organisers are still miles away from meeting their budgetary needs for the event.
So far, only three sponsors have come on board. The three are Halfway Toyota for transport, Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) for connectivity and Diamond College, who will be the event’s medal sponsors.
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