2017 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay

The men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium in London, England on 12 August.Start list

Summary

As the final was billed as Usain Bolt's final race, many eyes were on the Jamaican team, which put their hurdle gold medalist Omar McLeod on leadoff. Their main challenger was expected to be USA which put their 2015 anchor, Mike Rodgers on leadoff, and scheduled the fastest starter in the championships, Christian Coleman to run against Bolt on anchor. Earlier in the day, Bolt did anchor the team to qualify, minus McLeod. The home Great Britain team had run a strong semi-final, and led a quartet with France, China and Japan who were expected to compete for bronze, and possibly take advantage of slip-ups from the 'Big 2'.

Out of the blocks, USA and Jamaica were out about even, making up the stagger on Stuart Dutamby for France to their outside. Great Britain with Chijindu Ujah and on the far outside, Shuhei Tada for Japan were also out with them. A good British handoff to Adam Gemili had them passing China on their outside, while USA's 100 metre champion Justin Gatlin gained a step on Julian Forte for Jamaica. Into the third leg around the turn, USA's Jaylen Bacon maintained the lead against Jamaica's Yohan Blake, with Britain's Danny Talbot also ahead of Jamaica. Britain made a smooth blind handoff to Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake while Coleman took the baton off Bacon, Britain leaving the zone with a slight advantage, while Bolt had two metres to make up for Jamaica. Such a gain was expected to be within Bolt's ability but four steps into the straightaway, Bolt flinched in pain, hopping then somersaulting to the track. Mitchell-Blake and Coleman raced almost even until the last 20 metres when Mitchell-Blake pulled ahead and dipped at the finish line for an unexpected British win on home soil. 8 metres back, Japan came home with bronze, backing up their Olympic silver.

Medical aid with a wheelchair and his Jamaican teammates surrounded Bolt on the ground. While the British men's and women's relay teams celebrated together, Bolt lay on the ground in pain for a couple of minutes then refused the wheelchair and was helped to his feet by his teammates. With them by his side he limped across the finish line for the final time then went back to the ground wincing in pain. 100 Metre Champion Justin Gatlin blamed Bolt's injury on the poor planning and the teams being sent out forty-five minutes late.

During the final, the Chinese third leg runner Su Bingtian was accidentally hit on the head by Britain's second leg runner Adam Gemili as the former started his run. The Chinese side later decided not to make a post-race appeal and thus no further action was taken.

Great Britain's surprise gold, the first in the history of the event at the World Championships, and marked by a team with no individual medallists seeing off star-laced teams by means of superior technical baton changes, strong bend running and a notable esprit de corps, drew immediate comparisons with the Great Britain 2004 Summer Olympic 4 x 100 metre relay champions who had triumphed in similarly unexpected circumstances, the only other major global victory for the nation.

Records Before the competition records were as follows:

Record Team Date LocationWorld36.84Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt11 Aug 2012London, United KingdomChampionship37.04Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt4 Sep 2011Daegu, South KoreaWorld leading37.47Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake12 Aug 2017London, United KingdomAfrican37.94Osmond Ezinwa, Olapade Adeniken, Francis Obikwelu, Davidson Ezinwa9 Aug 1997Athens, GreeceAsian37.60Ryota Yamagata, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Asuka Cambridge19 Aug 2016Rio de Janeiro, BrazilNACAC36.84Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt11 Aug 2012London, United KingdomSouth American37.90Vicente de Lima, Édson Ribeiro, André da Silva, Claudinei da SilvaSydney, AustraliaEuropean37.47Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Daniel Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake12 Aug 2017London, United KingdomOceanian38.17Paul Henderson, Tim Jackson, Steve Brimacombe, Damien Marsh12 Aug 1995Gothenburg, SwedenAnthony Alozie, Isaac Ntiamoah, Andrew McCabe, Josh Ross10 Aug 2012London, United Kingdom

The following records were set at the competition:

Record Team Date World leading37.47Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake12 Aug 2017 22:01EuropeanBritishWorld leading37.47Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Daniel Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake12 Aug 2017 22:01

Qualification criteria The first eight placed teams at the 2017 IAAF World Relays and the host country qualify automatically for entry with remaining places being filled by teams with the fastest performances during the qualification period.

Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+1), is as follows: Date Time Round12 August 10:55 Heats12 August 21:50 Final

Results Heats

The first round took place on 12 August in two heats as follows:

Heat 1 2 Start time 10:55 11:04 Photo finishlinklink

The first three in each heat ( Q ) and the next two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:

Rank Heat Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes 1 1 8 Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Beejay Lee, Christian Coleman 37.70 , 2 1 4 Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake 37.76 , 3 2 3 Tyquendo Tracey, Julian Forte, Micheal Campbell, Usain Bolt 37.95 , 4 2 8 Stuart Dutamby, Jimmy Vicaut, Mickaël-Méba Zeze, Christophe Lemaitre 38.03 , 5 2 6 Wu Zhiqiang, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian, Zhang Peimeng 38.20 6 1 5 Shuhei Tada, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Asuka Cambridge 38.21 , 7 1 9 Yiğitcan Hekimoğlu, Jak Ali Harvey, Emre Zafer Barnes, Ramil Guliyev 38.44 , 8 2 2 Gavin Smellie, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, Mobolade Ajomale 38.48 9 1 6 Keston Bledman, Kyle Greaux, Moriba Morain, Emmanuel Callender 38.61 10 2 7 Julian Reus, Robert Hering, Roy Schmidt, Robin Erewa 38.66 11 1 2 Giovanni Codrington, Hensley Paulina, Liemarvin Bonevacia, Taymir Burnet 38.66 12 1 7 Trae Williams, Tom Gamble, Nick Andrews, Rohan Browning 38.88 13 2 4 Harlyn Pérez, Roberto Skyers, Yaniel Carrero, José Luis Gaspar 39.01 14 1 3 Levi Cadogan, Ramon Gittens, Shane Brathwaite, Mario Burke 39.19 2 9 Warren Fraser, Shavez Hart, Sean Stuart, Teray Smith 2 5

Final The final took place on 12 August at 22:01. The results were as follows (photo finish):

Rank Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes 7 Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake 37.47 , 4 Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Jaylen Bacon, Christian Coleman 37.52 9 Shuhei Tada, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Kenji Fujimitsu 38.04 4 8 Wu Zhiqiang, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian, Zhang Peimeng 38.34 5 6 Stuart Dutamby, Jimmy Vicaut, Mickaël-Méba Zeze, Christophe Lemaitre 38.48 6 2 Gavin Smellie, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, Mobolade Ajomale 38.59 7 3 Yiğitcan Hekimoğlu, Jak Ali Harvey, Emre Zafer Barnes, Ramil Guliyev 38.73 5 Omar McLeod, Julian Forte, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt

References