One needn’t look beyond Ezekiel Kemboi and Faith Kipyegon, Kenya’s most successful track athletes, to understand which nation has had a firm grip over the World Athletics Championship. The African team only trails the United States in both the most gold medals and most medals overall. Maybe why they say, think Kenya, think safari, and some of the greatest athletes. However, while mid and long distances have been its strengths for decades, Kenya is still grappling to position itself in one particular event. 

The last 13 months ensured one certainty entering the Championships relays: the top dogs were coming for their crown. Over the said duration, the 6 fastest nations had recorded their best in the mixed 4×400. As far as the event’s All-time record book goes, Kenya wasn’t one among them. But tonight, they defied the logic. 

The quartet of Brian Tinega, Mercy Adongo Oketch, Allan Kipyego, and Mary Moraa finished second in Heat 2, setting an African/National Record of 3:10.73. South Africa’s 3:11.16 in Heat 1 had proven to be no match. Post-race interviewers swarmed the new names who had left behind the best of teams. But just then, the announcement spelled silence: Team Kenya was disqualified due to lane infringement (stepping over the line). 

“We don’t know what to say,” Oketch offered as the team broke down. This was a team that had outrun the second and fifth-best record holders– the Netherlands and Poland, respectively– to celebrate a moment of history. Kenya is no stranger to it, with its 65 gold medals and legends like Kipyegon. But the short-distance relay meant just a little more this time around. 

Only a couple of months ago, in Guangzhou, China, for the World Athletics Relays, Team Kenya had come home with three national records, qualifying all three teams for the 2025 World Athletics Championships. The 4×400 mixed had capped off at 03:13.10 to secure itself a bronze medal behind Team USA and Australia. Adding to the excitement was the fact that it was only the nation’s second-ever medal in the event. 2025 was theirs to put a stamp on, until it wasn’t. 

Following the heartbreak, coach Julius Kirwa and the squad were expected to make an appeal. However, Kirwa wasn’t going down that road. She admitted it was an ‘unfortunate mistake,’ which gets to the teams more often than they’d like. “We can’t fault the athlete for that, we have to accept and move, and my plea to Kenyans is that we have just started the races, so they must support us,” the coach requested instead. However, by the end of the event, it wasn’t just the Kenyans who felt a jolt in their hearts.  

Team USA keeping battling a common fumble

In  yet another thrilling race down at Japan National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday morning. The world record (3:07.41) holders, Team USA, had their own little scare with a less-than-ideal banton hand off from Bryce Deadmon. Lynna Irby-Jackson, who would go on to deliver a commanding second leg regardless, knew the consequences all too well. In this very stadium, during the 2021 Olympics, that mistake had handed them a disqualification. Tears had welled up. But the decision was soon overturned. We, however, cannot say the same for men’s 4×400. 

Track & Field Gazette recently took to X to comment on the baton handoff between Trayvon Bromell and Ronnie Baker. While the exchange initially seemed seamless, a closer review showed Bromell having difficulty transferring the baton cleanly to

Baker. Although it wasn’t a major issue during practice, it underscored the ongoing fragility of the U.S. relay team, a challenge that has persisted for years now. The team often assembles top individual sprinters who rarely practice together enough to sync their strides perfectly. 

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Their brutal baton exchange at the Paris Olympics between Christian Coleman and Kenneth Bednarek, which occurred outside the takeover zone, led to disqualification, extending the U.S. men’s Olympic medal drought. Months later, at Guangzhou, the men’s 4x100m squad—featuring Kenny Bednarek, Courtney Lindsey, Kyree King, and Brandon Hicklin- fell short again, finishing behind South Africa. 

Team team better watch out, because if Team Kenya can trail with 171 medals, and pen consecutive relay records, then this won’t be difficult to catch up to.