How much Team Kenya 4x400m quartet will pocket from World Relays

Team Kenya will return from the 2026 World Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, with modest earnings after a challenging campaign, which saw only one of their five teams reach a final.

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Despite fielding strong squads across five of the six events on the programme, Kenya managed just a single final appearance, a result that significantly limited their share of the prize money on offer from World Athletics.

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The sole bright spark came from the mixed 4x400m relay team of Mercy Oketch, Mercy Chebet, Kelvin Tonui, and George Mutinda.

The quartet impressed in Saturday’s heats, clocking an African record time of 3:09.87 to secure a place in the final and book an automatic ticket to the 2027 World Championships in Beijing.

However, the final proved a tougher test.

Mutinda kept Kenya in contention during the opening leg before handing over to Chebet, who struggled to maintain the early pace. Tonui responded strongly on the third leg to keep the team in the medal hunt, setting up Oketch for the anchor.

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Oketch looked set to deliver a podium finish but was edged out in the closing stages, with Great Britain’s Yemi John surging past on the home straight to snatch bronze. Kenya ultimately settled for fourth place in a race that had promised more.

While missing out on a medal was a blow, the team will still take home prize money. At the Gaborone event, winners in each race earned $40,000 (approximately Ksh5.1 million), with second and third place receiving $20,000 (Ksh2.6 million) and $10,000 (Ksh1.3 million) respectively.

Fourth-place finishers were awarded $8,000, roughly Ksh1 million, which is what Kenya’s mixed 4x400m relay team will pocket.

It was the only financial return for Kenya from the competition, as the other four teams, including the men’s 4x100m squad led by Ferdinand Omanyala, failed to progress to the final despite getting a second chance in Sunday’s repechage round.

Kenya's mixed relay team narrowly misses podium in Botswana [VIDEO]

The rest will now have to navigate a longer qualification path to the World Championships.