Qualification spots at the 2027 World Championships and September’s World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest are up for grabs
Toby Harries hopes Britain’s relay stars can overcome the absence of Matt Hudson-Smith and Sam Reardon as they bid for glory in Botswana.
Harries, 27, is joined by fellow Paris 2024 medallists Charlie Dobson, Alex Haydock-Wilson and Lewis Davey in the squad for the World Athletics Relays, while rising star Jake Minshull is set for his senior international debut.
Qualification spots at the 2027 World Championships and September’s World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest are up for grabs but Harries admitted their task has been made harder by world and Olympic silver medallist Hudson-Smith’s decision not to make the trip.
“It is a shame not having some of the bigger hitters,” he said. “Sam is out due to injury, Matt is out due to his own decisions.
“We would have loved to have him here. It would have made it much easier to qualify for the World Champs next year and the Ultimate, which is just top six, so it does make it difficult to qualify the men’s and mixed relay as we will have to spread out our legacy runners for the first round.
“It’s a bit more stressful but we have some talented younger guys and the team is in good shape.”
A keen tourist off the track, Harries is relishing the experience of competing in a new country but a tight schedule ruled out his chances of going on a safari tour in Botswana.
The Brighton sprinter has particularly fond memories of last year’s World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, when he was part of the quartet who finished fifth in the men’s 4x400m final.
“We were in Hong Kong before we went to Guangzhou, we stayed downtown and went into the city, went to local restaurants and the beaches,” he said.
“I flew from Orlando to Hong Kong, a 13-hour time difference, so my mission for the first couple of days was just to stay awake and trying to acclimatise, so I was out exploring as much as possible.
“They had beach races going on, the viewpoints were great, street food – it was really cool.
“I quite like going round exploring the towns and cities whereas there is not really that much to do this year in Stellenbosch (GB training base).
“The mindset of not thinking too much about the competition before you do it is important. I was once in Jamaica with one of Usain Bolt’s old coaches and he said ‘you can run the race 1000 times before you get to the start line’.
“I am an overthinker sometimes, so I just focus on doing my prep to a good level and doing something else outside training, as long as you’re not using too much energy.”
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