Last weekend was a quiet one in the track and field world, especially in the U.S. where the big names were all coming down off the high of Millrose and staying out of the cold. Up against college basketball, the Winter Olympics, and the Super Bowl, poor little track and field would’ve had an even slimmer shot than usual at breaking through to the public consciousness under the best of circumstances.

Nevertheless, history was made. Over at the University of Pennsylvania, an institution synonymous with relays, the Quakers hosted the Atlanta Track Club, who broke the world indoor record in the men’s 4x800m. ATC ran 7:10.29 to knock just over a second off the 2018 best of 7:11.30 set by the NJNY Track Club. Clay Pender (1:49.69), Luke Houser (1:47.47), Luciano Fiore (1:47.35), and Sean Dolan (1:45.79) worked together to bump Kyle Merber from the top spot once and for all.

The 4x800m isn’t often run on the college and professional level, but any time a world best gets taken down, especially on a slow news week, it’s notable. More than anything else, however, it opened up a Pandora’s box of what-ifs, namely: how many other indoor WRs are looking a little soft these days?

There’s more than five weeks between now and the start of the World Indoor Championships. With the exception of various national championships, a handful of BU time trials, and three more World Indoor Tour Gold meets, non-collegiate elites don’t exactly have a packed calendar. So why not use the down time to get together a few friends and run faster than anyone else ever has? Of the indoor relay events World Athletics tracks, at least four of them could be broken this year on the NCAA circuit alone, and one more—the women’s 4x800m—could easily go down if any of a half dozen nations bothered to try.

But why settle for just one or two more relay records? There’s a case to be made that 2026 could be the year when every single relay indoor WR goes down in one season. Sure, you might need a magic wand and a fat stack of appearance-fee cash, but the path to an eight-for-eight sweep is there if the right teams step up.

Men’s 4x200m

Current WR: 1:22.11, Great Britain, 1991

This mark is the oldest of the group, and it may be the hardest to break. The 4x200m is rarely, if ever, run on the pro level because doing so would risk turning an indoor track into a demolition derby of limb collisions. But also, Team GB’s mark from 1991 is pretty legit, with a crew that featured Olympic champ Linford Christie and 19.87 man John Regis. If you could somehow wrangle Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek onto the same relay, Team USA could take a crack at it… but wouldn’t it be more fun if Jamaica had a second Cool Runnings moment with Oblique Seville, Bryan Levell, Ackeem Blake, and Kishane Thompson getting the job done instead? Sounds crazy, but the latter three have already opened up their 2026 racing seasons in the 60m, so it’s not like they wouldn’t be ready.

Women’s 4x200m

Current WR: 1:32.41, Russia, 2005

If Star Athletics wanted a boost of good PR, this record is theirs for the taking. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Sha’Carri Richardson, Kayla White, and Tee Tee Terry could show off their serious (and law-abiding) speed without even needing to recruit outside the training group. And heck, in a dream scenario, you could field an entire second team of talented Americans to battle it out for the record, assuming you could get Anavia Battle, Brittany Brown, McKenzie Long, and Gabby Thomas together and healthy at the same time. Talk about an embarrassment of riches.

Men’s 4x400m

Current WB: 3:00.77, USC, 2018

Unlike the 4x200m, fast 4x400ms get run every March thanks to the NCAA Indoor Championships. The bigger problem is the top NCAA squads are rarely made up of four athletes who all represent the same country. Technically, USC’s mark from 2018 only counts as a world best, because U.S. Olympic champion Rai Benjamin was representing Antigua and Barbuda at the time. It would be fun to have Benjamin and Michael Norman reunite to break their own record eight years later. But why let the Americans have all the fun? Great Britain, South Africa, and World champs Botswana all had four runners dip under 45 seconds in the 2025 season, and the Brits could easily host their African rivals somewhere like Birmingham for an exciting exhibition.

Women’s 4x400m

Current WB: 3:21.75, Arkansas, 2023

Five of the six fastest indoor 4x400ms this decade have come from two places: the endless 400m factory that is Arkansas, and the Femke Bol-led Netherlands. The Razorbacks don’t have quite the level of firepower this season they’ve sported in the past, but Olympic relay gold medalist Kaylyn Brown is still kicking around, and with Bol focused on the 800m for the moment, the best bet at a record-breaking run would be for Arkansas to be pushed by the likes of USC or Georgia at NCAAs.

Women’s 4x800m

Current WR: 8:05.89, United States, 2018

Keely Klassic meet organizers, listen up: this is a slam dunk waiting to happen. If Olympic champ Keely Hodgkinson returns to the meet-directing game, what better way to showcase British middle-distance excellence and/or the M11 track club than to absolutely obliterate the world indoor best in the 4x800m? Given that two-thirds of the World podium in 2025 came from Team GB and neither of those medalists were Isabelle Boffey, the 2026 world leader at 1:57.43, it feels like the Brits could practically jog this one and still knock a good chunk off the 2018 mark.

Men’s DMR

Current WB: 9:14.10, Washington, 2025

The two fastest DMR performances in history both came last season, but at totally different races. Washington ran 9:14.10 on their home track one week before Virginia ran 9:14.19 in Arkansas. Technically, Gary Martin and the Hoos have the official indoor record because Washington gets dinged for running on an oversize track, but it would have been awesome to see the two teams go head to head. With Nathan Green’s graduation, however, Washington would be fielding a younger team—so instead, let’s reunite the band for an all-star alumni squad featuring some combination of Green, Luke Houser, Joe Waskom, and Justin O’Toole, who broke out big time for Team Canada last summer with a 1:44.42 800m.

Women’s DMR

Current WR: 10:33.85, New Balance, 2022

One of the last big exhibition record attempts in recent memory came in April 2022, when the quartet of Heather MacLean, Kendall Ellis, Roisin Willis, and Elle St. Pierre broke both the indoor and outdoor marks on the then-brand-new TRACK at New Balance. And here’s the thing… every single one of those runners has set new PBs in the years since. Why not just run it back? If the organizers wanted to keep things in the NB family (MacLean is now an adidas athlete), someone like Dani Jones, Emily MacKay, or Margot Appleton could easily step up and fill the 1200m spot. These days, sports marketing is all about nostalgia anyway, so why not cook up some carefully-crafted déjà vu for the fans?

It’s highly unlikely that every single one of these records could get broken in one season, particularly in instances where pro athletes in particular are planning for a long season and only coming out of hibernation for a hefty appearance fee. But here’s the flip side: especially in some of these softer events, you don’t exactly have to be World-Championship-final sharp to show up, carry a baton, and then add “world record holder” to your Instagram bio.

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