Team USA athlete shares first thoughts about baton exchange mishap at World Athletics Relays

Team USA faced a major setback at the 2025 World Athletics Relays as a baton exchange mishap led to their disqualification from the mixed 4x100m relay event. The race, with the running order of woman, woman, man, man, made its debut at the World Athletic Relays.

Team USA’s line-up included Kennedy Blackmon, Jada Mowatt, Kendal Williams, and Pjai Austin. In Heat 1, a mishap during the baton exchange between Jada Mowatt and Kendel Williams during the second exchange caused the baton to be dropped.

The botched baton exchange not only disqualified the USA from the World Athletics Relays but also caused them to miss a direct qualification to the World Championships in Tokyo, which will be held later this year.

After the race, Kendal Williams admitted that the baton did not go as planned. He acknowledged that such mistakes are part of track and field, and one should be able to take both successes and setbacks.

“What happened? I saw it… I really can’t tell you, to be honest,” said Kendal Williams after the race. (0:07 onwards)

"I just saw the mark I was supposed to. We’re hoping everything lines up how it does in practice, but sometimes that’s not always the case. But we take the good with the bad. You learn and fight another day", he added.

He further explained that relays involve trial and error, especially when trying something new.

It’s our first time doing something like that. So, a lot of trial and error was involved.”

taly won Heat 1 by clocking 41.15s, followed by France, 41.28s, at the World Athletics Relays.

---

USA redeemed their mixed relay setback in the women's 4x100 at World Athletics Relays

Mikiah Brisco, Caisja Chandler, Kayla White, and Twanisha Terry of Team United States during World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 25, Source: Getty

Amid the baton drop, the United States bounced and had an impressive victory in the women's 4x100m in the final heat. Twanish Terry led the team, and they finished in first place, clocking 42.87s, followed by Canada, 43.11s. Terry has also helped the US clinch gold in the 4x100m relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships.

This is not the first time a relay has troubled Team USA. At the 2024 Paris Games, the men’s 4x100 relay team faced a similar situation, where a miscommunication between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek led to their disqualification. The baton was exchanged outside the designated takeover zone. The error happened when Coleman was passing the baton to Bednarek for the second leg.