Several former Mississippi State track and field athletes competed in Tokyo, Japan, last week at the World Athletics Championships, the annual meet for the world’s best in track and field. 

One Bulldog alumnus took home gold for his home country of Botswana. Lee Eppie helped his nation’s 4x400m relay team take home the gold. He ran the first leg of the relay, completing the first handoff with a 45.16 split. Eppie’s handoff went to Letsile Tebogo, who continued building on the team’s pace in a winning effort. 

The team trailed behind the United States heading into the final leg of the competition, but were able to end the American winning streak by handing them their first loss since 2017. 

Botswana is the first African nation to win the event since 2011. 

Eppie was the sole gold medalist from Mississippi State at the competition. Anderson Peterson and Curtis Thompson both competed for the javelin in Tokyo, taking silver and bronze in the competition, respectively. 

Marco Arop also competed, running for Canada in the 800m and taking home a bronze medal. 

Arop competed against former teammate and fellow All-American, Navasky Anderson, in the race. He finished with a time of 1:41.95 to earn a podium finish for the fourth consecutive championships.