Ghana’s 4x100m male relay team has secured an automatic spot at next year’s World Championships in Budapest.

This follows a quick revision of the qualification rules after Guangzhou 2023 World Relays was postponed to 2025 by World Athletics governing body yesterday.

The decision to postpone the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 23, scheduled for 13-14 May 2023, was taken with the agreement of both the Guangzhou organizing committee (LOC) and the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), due to the ongoing pandemic conditions.

The move by the World Athletics governing body immediately impacts the qualification system for the relay events at next year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest. The World Athletics Competition Commission upon approval of the Council has released revised set of rules for qualifying.

Very much like the qualification system for the Oregon 2022, top eight teams from the last World Athletics Championships make the competition.

The philosophy according to World Athletics is to replicate a similar qualification system by still qualifying part of the field through direct competition and part through performance in the qualification period.

Ghana’s male relay team finished 5th during the relay final in Oregon and thus qualify automatically alongside Canada, USA, Great Britain, Jamaica, South Africa, Brazil and France.

Details of the changes to the Budapest qualification system are outlined

The host of the 2024 World Athletics relays is set to be awarded by the World Athletics Council at their meeting in Rome, Italy, on 30 November.