Click on the video player above to watch live action from the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China.
Coverage begins on Saturday at 6:55 a.m. ET. The event continues on Sunday at 6:25 a.m. ET.
Olympic men’s 4×100-metre gold medallists Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Jerome Blake lead the Canadian contingent into Guangzhou, where qualification for the World Athletics Championships is up for grabs.
Canada will be looking to qualify men’s and women’s teams in both the 4x100m and 4x400m events, plus the mixed 4x400m. The mixed 4x100m is making its global debut at this event, but is not part of this year’s world championships.
The top 14 teams in each category in Guangzhou will qualify a spot at the world championships, which will be held in Tokyo in September.
WATCH | De Grasse on expectations for the relay team:
CBC Sports spoke to Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse ahead of the world athletic relays in China, about what the team is hoping to accomplish, and how they’re trying to be the best relay team in Canadian history.
De Grasse, Brown, Rodney and Blake earned silver at last year’s World Relays in the Bahamas. That event also earned them a berth at the Paris Olympics. This time, they’ll be trying to secure a spot in the world championships.
How it works
The top two finishers in each of the four opening-round heats on Saturday get into the worlds and advance to the final on Sunday where they’ll race for the $40,000 US top prize.
The other teams go to a second-chance qualifying round on Sunday, where the top two in each of the three heats receive a spot in the worlds.
Schedule of events
Saturday
- Mixed 4x100m – 7:01 a.m. ET
- Mixed 4x400m – 7:22 a.m. ET
- Women’s 4x100m – 8:03 a.m. ET
- Men’s 4x100m – 8:25 a.m. ET
- Women’s 4x400m – 8:53 a.m. ET
- Men’s 4x400m – 9:23 a.m. ET
Sunday
- Mixed 4x100m final – 7:05 a.m. ET
- Mixed 4x400m repechage – 7:13 a.m. ET
- Women’s 4x400m repechage – 7:34 a.m. ET
- Men’s 4x400m repechage – 7:56 a.m. ET
- Women’s 4x100m repechage – 8:16 a.m. ET
- Men’s 4x100m repechage – 8:32 a.m. ET
- Mixed 4x400m final – 9:03 a.m. ET
- Women’s 4x100m final – 9:16 a.m. ET
- Men’s 4x100m final – 9:26 a.m. ET
- Women’s 4x400m final – 9:36 a.m. ET
- Men’s 4x400m final – 9:49 a.m. ET
Canada’s World Athletics Relays roster
| Athlete | Event(s) | Hometown |
| Aaron Brown | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Toronto |
| Andre De Grasse | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Markham, Ont. |
| Brendon Rodney | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Etobicoke, Ont. |
| Duan Asemota | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Ajax, Ont. |
| Eliezer Adjibi | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Ottawa |
| Jerome Blake | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Kelowna, B.C. |
| Malachi Murray | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Edmonton |
| Norris Spike | Men’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Brampton, Ont. |
| Audrey Leduc | Women’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Laval, Que. |
| Catherine Leger | Women’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Montreal |
| Donna Ntambue | Women’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Montreal |
| Gabrielle Cole | Women’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Ajax, Ont. |
| Jacqueline Madogo | Women’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Guelph, Ont. |
| Marie-Éloïse Leclair | Women’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Candiac, Que. |
| Sade McCreath | Women’s 4x100m, Mixed 4x100m | Ajax, Ont. |
| Austin Cole | Mixed 4x400m | Sherwood Park, Alta. |
| Christopher Morales Williams | Mixed 4x400m | Maple, Ont. |
| Nathan George | Mixed 4x400m | Vancouver |
| Alyssa Marsh | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Whitby, Ont. |
| Dianna Proctor | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Edmonton |
| Jasneet Nijjar | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Surrey, B.C. |
| Kyra Constantine | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Brampton, Ont. |
| Lauren Gale | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Ottawa |
| Madeline Price | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Toronto |
| Micha Powell | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Montreal |
| Zoe Sherar | Women’s 4x400m, Mixed 4x400m | Toronto |
| Ramone English* | Men’s 4x100m | Edmonton |
*Reserve