Brodie Young Punches Ticket to Paris at World Athletics Relays
Brodie Young will represent Great Britain in the Olympics this summer in Paris as part of the mixed 4x400m relay squad after helping Team GB secure one of 14 Olympic Qualifying bids with a heat win on Sunday at World Athletics Relays in Nassau, Bahamas.
Young ran the first leg of the mixed 4x400m relay for a Great Britain squad that missed out on Olympic Qualifying and a finals spot by .34 seconds with a third-place finish in its first race on Saturday (3:13.52) but won its heat of the Second Round of Olympic qualifying competition on Sunday with a 3:12.99 season-best time that ranked as the second-fastest overall out of 19 teams.
Young posted a 46.70 400m split on Saturday and ran a near-season best of 46.19 in the second round on Sunday. That 3:12.99 mark would’ve been good for fifth in the Final Round held two hours later that the USA won with a championship record 3:10.73 time.
Great Britain & N.I. was one of two nations to qualify all five teams for Paris along with the USA. Another six – France, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Nigeria and Poland – qualified four each.
In other final races, Team GB won bronze in the 4x100m (42.80) and finished fifth in the men’s 4x100m (38.45) as well as fourth in the women’s 4x400m (3:25.84) and sixth in the men’s 4x400m (3:02.62).
USA won four of the five finals in Nassau, setting championship records in the women’s 4x100m (41.85) and mixed 4x400m squad (3:10.73) to go with world-leading times in the men’s 4x100m (37.40) and women’s 4x400m (3:21.70). Botswana’s 4x400m men ran a world lead of 2:59.11 to win the last race of the weekend.
LOBOS IN THE OLYMPICS
Along with Young, teammate Habtom Samuel has already secured the Olympic Qualifying standard and Lobo Alum Calli Thackery (2013-2017) has been named to the British Marathon team. 2023 1500m world champ Josh Kerr (2015-2018) is likely to represent Great Britain to headline three other Lobo alums in contention for spots in the Olympics along — Weini Keilati (USA), Adva Cohen (Israel) and Courtney Frerichs (USA).
Those who qualify will join 18 Lobo alumni that have represented their countries in the Olympic games dating back to 1960 — seven of them have competed in the last two Summer Olympics to be held in 2016 and 2021.
UP NEXT
Young will have a quick turnaround after getting back from the Bahamas – he’ll be counted on to score crucial points when Mountain West Outdoor Championships get started next Thursday in Clovis, Calif.
The Lobos’ top men’s 400m runner, Young’s 46.15 season best at the Bobcat Invitational on March 29th ranks No. 1 in the Mountain West and No. 39 in the nation – he’s already secured himself a surefire place in NCAA Prelims for the West Region, where that time ranks 18th. Along with Victor Akhalu, Tim Harris and Levente Soos, Young is also a crucial leg for UNM’s 4x400m relay squad that posted a 3:12.93 time last weekend at the Arizona Desert Heat Classic, good for third-fastest in the conference this season. He’ll also compete in the 200m, in which he’s ranked 11th (21.22).
All of next weekend’s competition will be broadcast via the MW Network, with live results and streaming links available via GoLobos.com/TrackResults.