Aussie athletics relay team smashes national record, books ticket to Tokyo world championships
Australian track and field is up in lights again.
A mixed 4x400m relay team broke the national record and booked its ticket to September's world athletics championships in a swift performance on Saturday night.
A team featuring Cooper Sherman, Ellie Beer, Reece Holder and Alanah Yukich — the last three of those ran at the Paris 2024 Olympics — clocked three minutes, 12.34 seconds in wet weather at the world athletics relays in China to smash the national record by 4.66 seconds.
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And the team finished second in their heat in Guangzhou, behind a quartet from Belgium which won in 3:11.83, to qualify for the Tokyo world championships, to be held from September 13-21.
The previous Australian record was set in 2021 on the Gold Coast by a team featuring Bendere Oboya, Annelise Rubie-Renshaw, Tyler Gunn and Alex Beck, who stopped the clock at 3:17.00.
Reece Holder running leg three in China. Getty Images for World Athletics
Reece Holder passes the baton to Alanah Yukich. Getty Images for World Athletics
Australia will race again in the final of the mixed 4x400m on Sunday night.
"We had such a strong team for this and went in trusting one another," Yukich said.
"We executed it to perfection and I was just so proud to anchor for this team.
"It'll be really exciting to see what we can do in Tokyo."
In the heats of the women's 4x100m, a Spanish team pipped a Jamaican quartet featuring the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a three-time Olympic gold medallist and an 11-time world champion, and Shericka Jackson, a one-time Olympic gold medallist and four-time world champion.
Alanah Yukich in action at the world athletics relays in China. Getty Images for World Athletics
Jamaican star Shericka Jackson, an Olympic gold medallist and a four-time world champion, receives the baton for the anchor leg. Getty Images for World Athletics
Spain posted a time of 42.18 seconds in a narrow victory over Jamaica, who clocked 42.51.
Australian athletics has taken off in recent times thanks to the likes of Gout Gout, Cameron Myers, Jessica Hull, Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson.
In Paris last year, Australia's athletics team hauled in seven medals to record its highest Olympic medal tally since the Melbourne 1956 Games.
