The World Athletics Relays, known as the ''IAAF World Relays'' until 2019, is an international biennial

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

sporting event held by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

where teams from around the world compete in

relay races A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

, some of which are not part of the standard Olympic programme. The first three editions were set to take place in Nassau,

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Originally intended as an annual event, it was later decided to happen every odd year, the same as the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

for which it serves as a qualification stage. The competition format for the first edition included the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

, the 4 × 200 metres relay, the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

, the

4 × 800 metres relay The 4 × 800 metres relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 800 metres or 2 laps on a standard 400 metre track. The IAAF ratifies world records in the event and it became a world championship ev ...

and the 4 × 1500 metres relay. The first edition had a $1.4 million prize fund. From the second edition, the 4 × 1500 metres relay was replaced by the

distance medley relay The distance medley relay (DMR) is an athletic event in which four athletes compete as part of a relay. With its inclusion in the IAAF World Relays program, the IAAF announced on May 1, 2015 that the event would be an official world record event. ...

. However, this was short-lived and was itself replaced by a mixed-gender 4 × 400 metres relay for the third edition. In 2019 the 2 × 2 × 400 m relay and the shuttle hurdles relay were added to the mixed-gender category. The 2021 World Athletics Relays were held in Chorzów, Poland at the

Silesian Stadium Silesian as an adjective can mean anything from or related to Silesia. As a noun, it refers to an article, item, or person of or from Silesia. Silesian may also refer to: People and languages *Silesians, inhabitants of Silesia, either a West Sla ...

Championships

Events

Championships records

Men

Women

Mixed

Medal table

''Updated: March 2022''

Multiple wins

Multiple wins athletes are. ;Three wins ;Two wins

References

External links

World Athletics Relays
on worldathletics.org
Yokohama 2019 Official Website
{{International athletics Track relay races Recurring sporting events established in 2014 Relays Relays Biennial athletics competitions