Guangzhou will welcome the world’s best sprinters on May 10-11, 2025 as countries compete for relay places at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025.

It will be the seventh edition of the World Athletics Relays and the first time the event will be held in China, after previous editions in the Bahamas, Japan and Poland.

The programme for the World Athletics Relays comprises five relay disciplines – men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m, plus the mixed 4x400m – and 32 teams will be entered in each of those.

"The top 16 teams in each discipline at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualify for entry to the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 2025. The host country may also enter one team in each discipline, regardless of any entry conditions," the WA said in a release.

The remaining teams (up to 32 in total per event) will be determined through the top lists in the qualification period (January 1, 2024 to April 13, 2025). Starting November 18, 2024, World Athletics will maintain a weekly list of relay teams qualified according to the above.

The top 14 teams in each of the five disciplines at the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 2025 will automatically qualify for places at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025.