Botswana’s rise in athletics has earned the country the honour of hosting the 2026 World Athletics Relays.
The event is scheduled to take place in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, from May 2 to May 3, 2026, as confirmed by World Athletics.
Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, announced the host country for the relays on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, during a two-day council meeting in Nanjing, China.
Botswana’s Minister of Sport and Arts, Jacob Kelebeng, reacted to the announcement by taking to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate and congratulate the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA).
“We made it. We have won the bid to host World Relays 2026. Congratulations to BAA,” he wrote.
Botswana boasts one of the world’s strongest relay teams, with their 4x400m squad winning silver at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
They also clinched gold at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas prior to the Olympics and currently hold three World Relays medals—one gold, one silver, and one bronze.
EE/EK
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