Australia has won its first medal in men’s competition at the World Athletics Relays with the 4x400m team taking bronze in a wild race on Sunday night.
Australia came away from the meet with all six teams qualifying for next year’s World Athletics Championships in China.
The quartet of Luke van Ratingen, Reece Holder, Thomas Reynolds and Aidan Murphy ran a massive 2:55.20 to miss out on silver by just 0.13 seconds as host country Botswana took the gold.
The theatre of the home country winning gold and the crowd going crazy had the Gaborone stadium shaking with the cameras used for the global broadcast left shaking.
The Aussie quartet were in the hunt for the gold right until the final straight after Murphy was left running three wide as a result of the final baton hand over.
According to Australian athletics analysts, Holder’s sizzling leg of 43.12 is in the top 10 of fastest spits ever run in the 4x400m.
Murphy went into the final turn shoulder to shoulder with South Africa’s Zakithi Nene and Botswana’s Busang Collen Kebinatshipi.
You can watch the thrilling finish in the video player above.
Kebinatshipi pulled away in the final 25m and finished the race by putting his index finger to his lips in a “shushing gesture”.
The anchor leg runner earlier taunted Australia’s Matthew Hunt during the qualifiers when he stared down the heat runner as they headed towards the final baton change on Saturday night.
The Aussie team were unable to match the national record time they set on the opening day because they were forced to jostle for positions, but they still celebrated wildly as Murphy crossed the line.
“It was so surreal and such a vibe out there,” Holder said to Athletics Australia.
“To come out and win a medal and do a time like that is pretty incredible.”
The other stunning result for Australia came in the 4x100m with the Aussie team finishing fourth while running from the inside line.
The team of Lachlan Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi, Christopher Ius and Rohan Browning hit the line with a time of 38.00 seconds, missing out on bronze by 0.24 seconds. The United States took gold and South Africa won silver ahead of Germany in third.
“We wanted to make the final and came wanting a medal, so to get so close is disappointing,” Ius told Athletics Australia.
“But to show the rest of the world we can do is such a good thing, and I think we are improving every year which is exciting.”
Australia’s mixed 4x400m team of Cooper Sherman, Mia Gross, Matthew Hunt and Alexia Loizou finished seventh in the final.
All three Aussie teams running in the second qualification round also secured spots at next year’s world championships.
The Aussie men’s 4x100m team achieved its impressive result despite teen sensation Gout Gout being unavailable for selection and Australia’s fastest ever runner Eddie Nketia also missing the trip to Botswana.
Nketia was selected in Australia’s preliminary squad but did not compete because of prior commitments to competing in college events in the United States.
The quartet on Saturday night equalled the national record of 37.87.
While many athletics analysts around the globe were impressed by Australia’s showing, outspoken track commentator Erin Brown took another swipe at Australia’s sprinting stocks.
“Best team got injured, USA has a c team, Tebogo didn’t run, SA second best guy pulled out… ninjas still couldn’t get top 3,” he posted on X.
“These ninjas are horrible lol.”
The former US college sprinter has been one of Gout’s biggest critics, and suggested Athletics Australia recorded “fake” times when Gout recorded a 19.67sec 200m run last month.
“Australia remains the home of fake times!” Brown ranted.
“This is as fake as it comes.”
The Aussie team has now earned its spot to prove Brown wrong when they take on the world in Beijing next year.
