World Athletics is persistently searching for methods to reinforce the attraction of observe and area occasions. Since its inception, the lads’s and ladies’s 100m races have yearly captivated audiences worldwide, showcasing the top of velocity at each main observe and area competitors. Nevertheless, within the pleasure of particular person races, I feel there’s a possibility to introduce an exciting crew occasion that might decide the world’s quickest nation: the combined 4x100m relay.
Whereas the present World Championship and Olympic packages function a combined 4x400m relay, the absence of a 4x100m relay raises the potential for much more pleasure, watching the quickest female and male sprinters compete collectively.
The 4x100m relay is thought for its chaos and the wonderful margins figuring out a crew’s possibilities for a medal. Through the years, each the lads’s and ladies’s relay occasions have supplied thrilling conclusions to the Olympics and World Championships, including to the attract and drama of the Video games.
World Athletics launched the combined 4x400m relay 5 years in the past to inject new pleasure into the one-lap occasion. Initially, the format allowed for a random order, that includes high female and male runners in various sequences. Nevertheless, in 2022, World Athletics needed to alter the format to make sure equity, with groups now required to comply with a particular order of man-woman-man-woman.
Constructing on the success of the combined 4x400m relay, World Athletics may discover introducing a combined 4x100m relay, additionally with a rigorously crafted order. Aaron Brown, 11-time Canadian dash champion and two-time Olympian, believes {that a} 4x100m combined relay could possibly be an entertaining addition to trace and area. “It has the potential for chaos, however I feel it may work, if it’s completed within the order of woman-woman-man-man,” says Brown.
Whereas the hand-offs in any relay are notoriously difficult, mixed-gender groups may add an additional layer of intrigue to the dash schedule. This occasion has the potential to be a spotlight, crowning the quickest dash nation on the planet, which in my view, is fascinating. The combined 4x100m relay additionally aligns with World Athletics and the IOC’s efforts to advertise gender equality and broaden the game’s reputation.
And like its longer counterpart, introducing the combined 4x100m relay would require cautious consideration and testing. Conducting trials at occasions just like the World Relays earlier than finalizing its inclusion in main championships may assist assess its impression on scheduling, athlete participation and total curiosity. A lot of the world’s high sprinters, like Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Shericka Jackson and Andre De Grasse will compete within the dash double and now have the 4x100m relay on their agenda. Including a combined occasion may decrease the standard or curiosity within the different relay occasions or create scheduling conflicts for athletes.
Regardless of the attainable logistical challenges, the dynamic nature of sports activities and the ever-evolving pursuits of followers and athletes counsel that alternatives might come up for modern occasions just like the combined 4x100m relay to develop into a everlasting fixture in main observe and area competitions. I feel the combined 4x100m relay is an occasion with loads of advertising and marketing and leisure potential, as demonstrated by the joy of the combined 4x400m relay occasions on the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, which felt wild and harking back to a curler derby. As Brown talked about, I consider the 4x100m occasion would generate comparable chaotic curiosity, giving extra alternatives for athletes to win medals and compete at a world championship stage.
