Australia's men's 4x400m relay team secured a bronze medal at the World Athletics Relays in Botswana, clocking a national record time of 2:55.20. The team of Luke van Ratingen, Reece Holder, Thomas Reynolds and Aidan Murphy finished behind hosts Botswana and South Africa in a thrilling race decided in the final metres.
The time broke the Australian record set in the preliminary round the previous day and would have won gold at every Olympics except Paris 2024, where the United States held off Botswana. It was the sixth-fastest time in history, within a second of the 1993 world record set by the United States.
Holder ran the second leg in a split of 43.12 seconds, the third fastest in the race. South Africa's Lythe Pillay recorded the fastest split ever at 42.66 seconds, surpassing Michael Johnson's 1993 mark.
The result avenged Australia's disqualification at last year's world championships due to a positioning error by Murphy. 'It was so surreal and such a vibe out there,' Holder said. 'To come out and win a medal and do a time like that is pretty incredible.'
Australia was the only nation to qualify all six relay teams for the Beijing world championships, highlighting its depth. The men's 4x100m team finished fourth, narrowly missing a medal.
