Qatar miss out on 4x400m final, set for second shot at Worlds berth

Qatar’s men’s 4x400m team failed to qualify for the final at the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China Saturday. The quartet of Abderrahman Samba, Bassem Hemeida, Ashraf Hussen Osman and Ammar Ismail Yahia Ibrahim finished third in the heats, missing out on a chance to secure early qualification for the World Championships, set to be held in Tokyo this September.
While Qatar missed their first opportunity to qualify, they will have a second shot Sunday. All non-finalists will compete in additional qualifying heats, with the top two from each of the three groups securing World Championships berths. In case they fail to secure Tokyo 2025 spots from Guangzhou, Qatar can also qualify based on their position in the top performance lists during the qualification window, which runs from February 25, 2024 to August 24, 2025. Only two teams from the top lists from each event will make the cut.
On the opening day in Guangzhou, quotas were on offer to the top two teams in each heat in every relay event (except the 4x100m). The two teams also made the finals and will race for World Championships lane seeding and medals Sunday.
It was a thrilling three-way battle between Belgium, Great Britain and Qatar in heat 3. The three teams were within one stride of each other going into the final leg. Qatar’s Ammar Ismail Yahia Ibrahim tried to force his way between Belgium’s Alexander Doom and Britain’s Charlie Dobson but was ultimately unsuccessful.
The latter two ran side by side down the home straight as Belgium took the win in 3:01.35, 0.03 ahead of Britain. Qatar finished in 3:03.97.
Italy, Canada and Jamaica sparkle in mixed 4x100m relay’s global debut.
Meanwhile, Italy, Canada and Jamaica reached the mixed 4x100m relay final in the event’s global debut while heavyweights the United States experienced mixed fortunes.
Victory in 41.15 seconds in the first heat amid challenging conditions in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou following a spell of rain earned the Italians a place in the medal round to be held Sunday.
They will be joined by France, who finished second in 41.28 seconds, while pre-race favourites the US saw their hopes of advancing fade when Jada Mowatt and Kendal Williams botched their baton exchange during the second changeover.
Jamaica’s mixed sprint quartet clocked 41.04 seconds to edge out Britain by a hundredth of a second in the next heat and they could deploy three-times Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and former world champion Yohan Blake in the final.
Canada crossed the line in a scorching 40.90 seconds to second-placed Australia’s 41.15 seconds in the third heat to send out a warning to their rivals. The Americans made up for their error by easing into the mixed 4x400m final, thereby
also sealing their spot in the event at the world championships tin Tokyo in September.
The world record-holders will be joined in the Guangzhou final by Belgium, Australia, Ireland, Britain and South Africa as well as the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers Kenya and Poland.
Spain went quickest in the women’s 4x100m relay ahead of Jamaica and Belgium, clocking 42.18 seconds, while South Africa dominated the men’s event with Akani Simbine anchoring his team to a joint world leading time of 37.84 seconds.
Japan, who were assured of a place in the worlds as hosts, matched South Africa’s effort in their heat to finish in front of Olympic champions Canada.
The US women’s team shrugged off the increasingly damp conditions to top the timings in the 4x400m race while the men’s quartet were third in their heat and will have to wait until Sunday to book their spot in the worlds.
South Africa’s men were quickest again in that event with a world leading time of exactly three minutes.