Unpredictable New Mixed 400m Relay Set to Intrigue Tokyo

The unpredictability of how teams choose to run their athletes promises to keep fans guessing throughout the event. (Getty Images)
The unpredictability of how teams choose to run their athletes promises to keep fans guessing throughout the event. (Getty Images)
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Unpredictable New Mixed 400m Relay Set to Intrigue Tokyo

The unpredictability of how teams choose to run their athletes promises to keep fans guessing throughout the event. (Getty Images)
The unpredictability of how teams choose to run their athletes promises to keep fans guessing throughout the event. (Getty Images)

Tokyo’s athletics program will see the inaugural 400 meter mixed relay event kick off on Friday, where teams of two men and two women will compete for Olympic gold against each other offering fans unpredictable and intriguing match-ups.

The United States will be the favorites for Saturday’s final, assuming there are no baton blunders in Friday’s heats, having claimed the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Jamaica are also expected to feature prominently.

But there is a level of unpredictability to the race, since there are no gender rules governing the order in which athletes race.

In the Doha world title race, for instance, Poland went for men in the first two legs and women in the last two while the rest of the teams ran the first and fourth legs with men.

The move gave Poland a sizeable lead after the second leg, but they saw that cut back in the third before losing it completely in the fourth as the American Michael Cherry took a lead he never relinquished, helping his team set a world record time of 3.09.34 minutes. Jamaica came second and Poland eventually finished fifth.

The unpredictability of how teams choose to run their athletes promises to keep fans guessing throughout the event, though the man-woman-woman-man running order is favored by most teams.

Germany boast this year’s world-leading time after they posted a 3:13.57 minute performance in June at home, according to World Athletics data, followed by Ukraine and Nigeria.

Kevin Borlee, Belgium’s 2011 World Championship 400 meter bronze medalist, told Olympics.com that the event has expanded the potential pool of countries that can offer genuine competition in Olympics relay racing.

“With the traditional relays you need at least four athletes of the same gender,” he said earlier this year.



Brazil Coach Ancelotti Sentenced to One-year Jail Term in Spain over Tax Fraud

(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
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Brazil Coach Ancelotti Sentenced to One-year Jail Term in Spain over Tax Fraud

(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
(FILES) Brazil's football team new head coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, walks on arrival for his official presentation at a hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)

A Spanish court on Wednesday sentenced Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti to a one-year prison term for tax fraud when he was Real Madrid manager in 2014.

The Madrid court also fined Ancelotti €386,000 ($452,187).

Spanish prosecutors accused Ancelotti of defrauding the state of 1 million euros ($1 million) in 2014 and 2015. State prosecutors sought a prison sentence of up to four years and nine months on two counts of tax fraud.

In March 2024, they accused Ancelotti of having used shell companies to hide his true earnings. Prosecutors claimed Ancelotti, for example, used one company that lacked “any real (economic) activity” in the Virgin Islands as part of an alleged scheme.

Carlos Sánchez, Ancelotti’s press officer, told The Associated Press that the coach “will not make comments for now.”

Ancelotti is one of soccer’s most successful coaches. He is the only coach to have won the Champions League five times, three with Madrid and twice with AC Milan, and the only coach to have won domestic league titles in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.