Norway run world lead to win women’s 4x400m in Gaborone

Norway women’s 4x400m clock world-leading 3:27.29 to seal Gaborone gold

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

Norway’s quartet swept the women’s 4x400m relay at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix on Saturday with a world-leading 3 minutes 27.29 seconds.

The time slices more than two seconds off the previous 2026 best of 3:29.55 set by Poland in Bydgoszcz last month and lifts Norway to second on the all-time European list behind the Soviet Union 3:26.56 from 1988.

The mark arrives 14 months before the Budapest World Championships and signals the Scandinavian squad has emerged as a genuine challenger to the United States, which has won every global title since 2019. Norway failed to reach the final at the Tokyo Olympics and finished seventh in last year’s European Championships in Rome.

Amalie Iuel opened with a 52.1 split, handing off to Henriette Jæger who tore down the back straight in 50.8. Josefine Tomine Eriksen held off Poland’s charge on leg three at 51.6 before 400m hurdles specialist Line Kloster stormed home in 52.7 on a humid 28-degree night at the National Stadium to roars from a crowd of 4,800.

“We said in the call room that we would attack, not defend,” Kloster told reporters. “Times don’t lie. This gives us the ticket to every big dance this summer.”

Poland clocked 3:28.41 for second, its fastest since winning the 2021 Olympic bronze. Italy took third in 3:30.05.

Head coach Eirik Garnes revealed the squad had trained together for only eight days before traveling to southern Africa. “We gambled on speed endurance, skipping our usual split sessions,” he said. “The girls executed like veterans.”

A medal here was not guaranteed. Jæger slipped off the track at the Oslo Diamond League on 31 May and scraped into the Gaborone field as the 12th-fastest entrant. Iuel spent April rehabbing a strained hamstring, and Kloster had not raced a flat 400m since 2023, focusing instead on the hurdles.

“Everyone wrote us off after Rome,” Jæger said. “We needed to remind Europe that Norway can still run rounds.”

The victory moves Norway to the top of World Athletics’ new 2026 relay rankings introduced to seed championship heats. Points are awarded for both time and placing, giving the Norwegians an early advantage as they chase automatic entry to August’s European Championships in Birmingham.

Reigning Olympic champion the United States has yet to field a quartet in 2026 after a scheduling dispute between USATF and the athletes’ union over appearance fees. American coach Raqell Gilchrist said a “world-ranking relay” would be assembled for July’s Paris Diamond League, but with no collective training camps booked some agents have advised sprinters to pass.

“Any time you run a 3:27 relay the Americans pay attention,” former British anchor Christine Ohuruogu told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Tokyo showed the race is wide open if the US makes a hash of hand-offs.”

Botswana Athletics Federation president Pops Segwaba hailed the meet as the country’s biggest track event since the 2014 African Championships. Ticket revenue hit a record $235,000, helped by free entry for school-age children. Local fans waved miniature Norwegian flags sold by vendors outside the stadium after Kloster autographed dozens of programs during the warmup.

Background

Norway first cracked the women’s 4x400m elite in 2015 when the Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal-led squad set a national record of 3:32.55 at the Beijing World Championships. That quartet advanced to the final and placed sixth in 3:33.99, still the only Norwegian women’s relay to reach a global medal race. Sustained success has been elusive because the country produces few specialized quarter-milers; most athletes balance the 400m with hurdles, combined events, or longer distances.

Belgium and Poland dominated European relays through the late teens, but financial pressures tightened national budgets across the continent. Norway countered by merging relay funding with its successful hurdling program centered at the Sandnes High Performance Center near Stavanger, allowing the federation to pool coaching and medical staff. The result is a hybrid squad in which all four legs can run sub-54 flat and sub-57 over barriers, an unusual versatility on the circuit.

What’s Next

The Norwegians plan to race again at a low-key meet in Lillehammer on 11 June before flying to Eugene for the Prefontaine Classic on 16 July. Meanwhile World Athletics will publish its first quarterly relay rankings on Tuesday, establishing championship lanes for the Birmingham Europeans and next February’s World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland. Selection committees must submit provisional rosters by 30 August, meaning every split and hand-off across the Grand Prix circuit will now be dissected.

For the United States the clock is ticking louder. The US women have not lost a global final since 2015 but enter the summer without a settled order and lingering discord over funding. If they fail to answer Kloster’s challenge in Europe, Norway could arrive at the World Championships with the psychological edge that a top-ranked time provides.