The World Athletics Relays, known as the ''IAAF World Relays'' until 2019, is an international biennial

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

sporting event held by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

where teams from around the world compete in relay races, some of which are not part of the standard Olympic programme. The first three editions were set to take place in Nassau,

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

at the

Thomas Robinson Stadium Thomas Robinson Stadium, officially Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Nassau, Bahamas. The largest stadium in the country, it is used primarily for Association football, soccer matches. The stadium is also the ...

in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Originally intended as an annual event, it was later decided to happen every odd year, in the same year as the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial sport of athletics, athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations ...

for which it serves as a qualification stage. The competition format for the first edition included the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

, the 4 × 200 metres relay, the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

, the 4 × 800 metres relay and the 4 × 1500 metres relay. The first edition had a $1.4 million prize fund. From the second edition, the 4 × 1500 metres relay was replaced by the distance medley relay. However, this was short-lived and was itself replaced by a mixed-gender 4 × 400 metres relay for the third edition. In 2019, the 2 × 2 × 400 m relay and the shuttle hurdles relay were added to the mixed-gender category. Starting from the 2024 edition, all the non-Olympic events were removed from the programme and only the mens and women's 4 × 100 and 4 × 400 metres remained, alongside the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay. In the 2025 edition, a mixed 4 × 100 metres was added to the programme, bringing the total to 6 events. The latest World Athletics Relays were held in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium on 10 and 11 May 2025.

Championships

Events

Championships records

Men

Women

Mixed

Medal table

''Updated: After the 2025 World Athletics Relay''

Multiple wins

Multiple wins athletes are: ;Three wins ;Two wins

References

External links

World Athletics Relays
on worldathletics.org * {{International athletics Track relay races Recurring sporting events established in 2014 Relays Relays Biennial athletics competitions