The Men's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on 4 September 2011.
The winning margin was 1.16 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 4 x 100 metres relay has been won by more than a second at these championships.
USA won the first semi-final with deliberate handoffs, setting the world leader. France followed them into the final. The second semi-final was won by Trinidad and Tobago, ahead of favored Jamaica. Saint Kitts and Nevis set their national record in making the time qualifier in third. The third semi-final was much closer as Great Britain led Poland, with Italy making the final time qualifier.
In the final, Nesta Carter put Jamaica out into the lead, but Justin Gatlin ran down Michael Frater to put the USA even with Jamaica. On the third leg, Yohan Blake again edged Jamaica into the lead. Going into the final handoff, Darvis Patton of USA clipped Britain's Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and fell into a forward roll. American anchor Walter Dix never saw the baton and the British team also did not finish the race. In addition, Patton's fall seriously impeded Richard Thompson, Trinidad and Tobago's anchor, which caused his team to finish last. Meanwhile Usain Bolt took the baton and pulled away. Jamaica bettered their own World Record to finish in a time of 37.04. It was the only world record to be set at the championships. France finished second with Saint Kitts and Nevis third.
Medalists
GoldSilverBronzeNesta CarterMichael FraterYohan BlakeUsain BoltDexter Lee*Teddy TinmarChristophe LemaitreYannick LesourdJimmy VicautJason RogersKim CollinsAntoine AdamsBrijesh Lawrence
Records Prior to the competition, the established records were as follows. World record (Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell) 37.10 Beijing, PR China 22 August 2008Championship record (Usain Bolt, Michael Frater, Steve Mullings, Asafa Powell) 37.31 Berlin, Germany 22 August 2009 World leading (Trell Kimmons, Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Walter Dix) 37.90 Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy 19 July 2011 African record (Osmond Ezinwa, Olapade Adeniken, Francis Obikwelu, Davidson Ezinwa) 37.94 Athens, Greece 9 August 1997 Asian record (Nobuharu Asahara, Shinji Takahira, Shingo Suetsugu, Naoki Tsukahara) 38.03 Osaka, Japan 1 September 2007North, Central American and Caribbean record (Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell) 37.10 Beijing, PR China 22 August 2008 South American record (Vicente de Lima, Édson Ribeiro, André da Silva, Claudinei da Silva) 37.90 Sydney, Australia 30 September 2000European record (Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish, Dwain Chambers) 37.73 Seville, Spain 29 August 1999 Oceanian record (Paul Henderson, Tim Jackson, Steve Brimacombe, Damien Marsh) 38.17 Gothenburg, Sweden 12 August 1995
Schedule Date Time Round 4 September 2011 19:00 Heats 4 September 2011 21:00 Final
Results KEY:qFastest non-qualifiersQQualifiedNRNational recordPBPersonal bestSBSeasonal best
Heats Qualification: First 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) advance to the final.
Rank Heat Nation Athletes Time Notes 1 1 Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Maurice Mitchell, Travis Padgett 37.79 Q, WL 2 2 Keston Bledman, Marc Burns, Aaron Armstrong, Richard Thompson 37.91 Q, SB 3 2 Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Dexter Lee 38.07 Q, SB 4 3 Christian Malcolm, Craig Pickering, Marlon Devonish, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey 38.29 Q, SB 5 3 Paweł Stempel, Dariusz Kuć, Robert Kubaczyk, Kamil Kryński 38.37 Q, SB 6 1 Teddy Tinmar, Christophe Lemaitre, Yannick Lesourd, Jimmy Vicaut 38.38 Q, SB 7 3 Michael Tumi, Simone Collio, Emanuele Di Gregorio, Fabio Cerutti 38.41 q, SB 8 2 Jason Rogers, Kim Collins, Antoine Adams, Brijesh Lawrence 38.47 q, NR 9 2 Yuichi Kobayashi, Masashi Eriguchi, Shinji Takahira, Hitoshi Saito 38.66 SB 10 3 Anthony Alozie, Matt Davies, Aaron Rouge-Serret, Isaac Ntiamoah 38.69 SB 11 2 Hannes Dreyer, Ofentse Mogawane, Roscoe Engel, Thuso Mpuang 38.72 SB 12 2 Chen Qiang, Liang Jiahong, Su Bingtian, Lao Yi 38.87 SB 13 2 Marcos Amalbert, Carlos Rodríguez, Marquis Holston, Miguel López 39.04 NR 14 1 Ricardo Monteiro, João Ferreira, Arnaldo Abrantes, Yazaldes Nascimento 39.09 SB 15 1 Emmanuel Kubi, Tim Abeyie, Ashhad Agyapong, Aziz Zakari 39.17 16 1 Wang Wen-Tang, Liu Yuan-Kai, Tsai Meng-Lin, Yi Wei-Chen 39.30 17 3 Sam Effah, Gavin Smellie, Jared Connaughton, Justyn Warner 39.28 18 3 Weerawat Pharueang, Suppachai Chimdee, Sompote Suwannarangsri, Jirapong Meenapra 39.54 SB 1 Diego Cavalcanti, Sandro Viana, Nilson André, Bruno de Barros 3 Yeo Ho-Suah, Cho Kyu-won, Kim Kukyoung, Lim Hee-nam 3 Giovanni Codrington, Brian Mariano, Jerrel Feller, Patrick van Luijk 2 Tobias Unger, Marius Broening, Sebastian Ernst, Alex Schaf 1 Pascal Mancini, Reto Schenkel, Alex Wilson, Marc Schneeberger
Final Rank Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes 6 Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt 37.04 WR 8 Teddy Tinmar, Christophe Lemaitre, Yannick Lesourd, Jimmy Vicaut 38.20 SB 1 Jason Rogers, Kim Collins, Antoine Adams, Brijesh Lawrence 38.49 4 7 Paweł Stempel, Dariusz Kuć, Robert Kubaczyk, Kamil Kryński 38.50 5 2 Michael Tumi, Simone Collio, Emanuele Di Gregorio, Fabio Cerutti 38.96 6 5 Keston Bledman, Marc Burns, Aaron Armstrong, Richard Thompson 39.01 * 4 Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Darvis Patton, Walter Dix 3 Christian Malcolm, Craig Pickering, Marlon Devonish, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey
* Trinidad and Tobago's Aaron Armstrong tripped over USA's falling Darvis Patton, causing them to finish last.
References
External links Relay results at the IAAF website