Passing the baton: World Relays offer big opportunity for the future of Canadian track

There’s a good chance Canadian sprinters bring home medals from the 2026 World Athletics Relays. But for Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert, the goals for his team extend far beyond making it onto the podium at this weekend’s event in Gaborone, Botswana. 

The main objective is to qualify Canadian teams – the men’s, women’s, and mixed 4x100-metres, and the women’s and mixed 4x400m – for the biggest event on next year’s calendar, the 2027 World Athletics Championships.

But Gilbert’s focus at the World Relays for his entire 29-member team – an intentional blend of rookies and veterans – stretches even further than next year’s worlds. It goes all the way to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

“Obviously, we're trying to qualify all five [teams] to the world championships next summer in Beijing,” Gilbert said. “So, we bring in a mixed group – some veterans [and] some newcomers to the sprint relay group. There's [an] opportunity for experience and understanding how the relay system works through World Athletics.

“Also for some of the athletes to kind of get that world stage experience, because it's invaluable.”

Live coverage of the World Athletics Relays on CBC Sports will be shown at 8 a.m. ET on both Saturday, May 2 and on Sunday, May 3. Watch all the action from Gaborone, Botswana, on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. Click here for the full broadcast details .

Cultivating the next generation of a country’s sprinters and relay teams is part of the appeal of a meet like the World Relays. Gilbert says the Canadian team has plenty of depth, but it’s the seasoning at events like this one that helps develop the younger members into podium threats on the global stage.

“The opportunity to go to a World Relays, I think, is