U.S. runs away in mixed 4x400m relay with CR
The U.S. mixed 4x400 relay team of Joshua Shelton, Taylor-Nicole Overton, Jaelen Hunter, Olivia Harris obliterated the field for a Championship Record at the 2026 World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Video Transcript
And there's one more title on the line.
It's been a fabulous opening day.
What can the South Africans bring to this final party?
Second in heat two, anchored home by Izabel Gunter.
They're on the outside.
Then to Poland, twice silver medalists in this event.
Kanak Kanti will bring them home.
Saw her run well earlier on.
Great Britain, Lucas Cameron had an excellent third leg for them this morning.
Kamiah Bennett goes anchor.
In lane six, Jamaica.
The Jamaicans, watch for Jabari Mattison.
He goes lead leg and ran 43.6 this morning.
They were just off the podium two years ago, desperate for a medal.
In lane six, United States.
This is a fabulous team from the United States.
Josh Shelton on lead leg.
Are they going to have to break their own world record to win this title?
A world-leading 318.26 this morning.
Australia.
Driven hard and driven all the way to the line by the Australians, the defending champions.
319.59 this morning.
In lane blue- Czechia, third in the opening heat.
Jakub Marec is a fabulous 400 meter runner, and so too Bockova.
Watch for them to close the gap at the end if they are trailing.
In lane- Colombia, a national record for them in qualification.
Isabel Hurtado, a very, very experienced athlete for them.
And center lane, Chrispino.
Sanchez holding the flag, and flags being waved in the crowd as well.
And then the Spanish.
Final leg, Spain.
Crespo on the third leg.
Navarro goes second.
Rojo will lead them out.
19.4- 317.69 is the world record.
Bruce, you know this Australian team inside out and back to front.
They are the defending champions.
It's a tall, tall order, but they've got the class to really push the Americans.
This could be the quickest we've ever seen, couldn't it?
It's got the potential, Rob, to be something very special, I think, don't you?
I really do, and it'll be the perfect end to a great night.
We've seen gold for Uganda in the women's 5,000, gold for Kenya in the men's 5,000, and gold for Brazil, their first ever, at the World Under 20 in the men's shot put.
The mixed 4x4 final, Spain, Colombia, Czechia, Australia, USA, Jamaica, Great Britain, Poland, South Africa.
The defending champions against the world record holders, and seven other superb teams.
The curtain comes down on a fabulous first day of five here in Oregon '26.
This could be very, very quick indeed.
Set.
Well, what a treat for us all, and what a roar for these teams.
Now, if Mattison goes out anywhere near as quickly as he did this morning, then the Jamaicans are really going to put the hammer down.
He's being closed at the moment.
Good work by the American Josh Shelton.
Shelton coming through onto Mattison's shoulder.
The Australians with a little bit of ground to make up.
Dylan Rumming needs to come good here.
The South Africans driving hard on the outside.
Now the American beginning to close the gap.
Jamaica, from the United States.
Poland going well.
And Australia coming through on the inside, but being put under a little bit of pressure by the quartet from Czechia.
So USA lead, Rob.
They got the best of the first.
Xavier Watts has gone very well for Australia.
She's pushed up inside of Jamaica, so the three big guns, and Great Britain back a bit, so Czechia in third place.
So it's USA, Jamaica, Australia.
Can they hold that?
But the USA, we're on world record watch, and they start to extend the lead here.
This is really good running.
Excellent strength coming up to the halfway stage.
Watts has to check her stride to come wide over the tiring Herbert.
A big lead for the Americans.
137.8 at halfway.
Australia second, Jamaica third.
If the Australians are going to close, they have to do it now.
And Hamlin's gotta be careful though here, Rob.
He can't go out He can't get too excited here.
His job, the Australian's job, is to try and hold the Jamaican and the Pole at the moment, because it's USA by such a big margin, and the battle's on now for second, third, fourth, and fifth.
The real battle there between Jamaica and Australia, but the USA lead by 15 to 20 meters with 500 to go.
The Americans will be desperate for this win.
Hamlin's coming under pressure from Pitta.
Adamszic is running well for Poland, and South Africa trying to get in the mix.
Is it going to be a battle for silver and bronze?
Harris on the anchor leg for the Americans.
Could the world record go here at Hayward Field?
It's the last gold on a brilliant opening day, and the Jamaicans are really taking it to the Australian, who had her stride checked there, and she'll need to come wide on the outside.
South Africa trying to get in the shakeup.
They drive on.
It's a lovely stride from McAuliff coming up onto the shoulder of Fowler.
Don't rule out the team from Czechia either.
There's the battle for silver and bronze.
The Americans are away and clear, and Czechia are not out of the battle for the podium here either.
Watch the clock, 3:17.69 is the world record.
She's coming, she's closing.
This is quick, it's really quick.
Are we finishing with a world record?
Oh, yes, we are.
What an opening day, and what a time to produce.
That incredible performance, that's sensational from the United States.
Boom, Czechia come through on the line with a national record, Australia with an area record for bronze, and Jamaica with a national record for fourth.
But all eyes were on the Americans there.
That was sensational.
They've absolutely decimated their previous best time, 3:15.31.
That was magnificent, and they were never threatened.
But what a battle for silver and bronze.
Brilliant from Czechia, and an area record for the Australians.
They need to hold their heads up high.
You can't do any better than that.
But the Americans were so dominant from start to finish.
A brilliant end to a brilliant opening day.
What a performance.
Incredible the amount of time they've taken off that record.
So it's the world record.
Czechia's run the third-fastest time ever, and Australia the fourth-fastest time ever.
It is a final for the ages.
It was USA by a margin.
I've got to give Charlotte McCauley for big, big pat on the back here, the Australian, Rob.
She's been out of sorts all season.
She's been injured.
It's been a big, big effort to get her back.
She ran the anchor leg for Australia.
She was a medalist in this event two years ago.
She hasn't been at her top, but she was at her top tonight.
Good on Czechia.
Australia get that national record, but the USA have done something quite remarkable here tonight.
They didn't just beat that record- No they obliterated it.
They, they put a marker up for the next probably five years for those to chase.
They have established one of those great records that you've gotta say, "I was there.
I was lucky enough to have been there."
Well, their previous mark was when they took gold in Cali in '22 with 3:17.69, and they've just run 3:15.31.
Bruce McAvaney has seen much more athletics than me.
It might take a long, long time before that record is beaten.
I think so.
And the It was a great battle throughout the race for second, third, and fourth, wasn't it, Rosie?
I mean- Yeah, it was brilliant it, it, it kept changing.
And look, Charlotte gets the baton here, and I thought at this point from Freddy Hamlin, I thought at this point that Australia was probably unlikely to hang on for a medal.
Third it was.
Czechia finishing so strongly, and Jamaica in fourth placing.
It was just stirring to watch, wasn't it?
Yeah, it was brilliant all the way down.
Something exciting wherever you looked in that race.
It isn't often that we get something of that quality the whole way down the field.
What a treat, and what a way to set us up for the rest of the World Under 20s that we've still got to come.
Four more days, and if this is anything to go by, it's gonna be spectacular.
Well, you knew.
I watched the clock.
When she came into the home straight, I looked at the clock and I thought, "My gosh, this isn't just on, this is gonna be smashed."
Quite often, Bruce, when a world record's on the line, it's by a couple of hundredths or a couple of tenths.
But you knew with 40 meters to go she'd got it.
It was hard to get your head around what It really was.
Yeah.
I mean, you thought, "Can it be that quick?"
And look, 3:15.31 compared with 3:17.69, it's almost two and a half seconds off the previous world record.
Admittedly, it's a developing event.
We know that.
But that is a special time.
What a way to finish day one.
A world record, a national record, an area record, and then three national records for fourth, fifth, and sixth.
The mixed relay has delivered a blockbuster climax to our opening day.
