The women's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 4 to 5 October 2019.
Summary
Already the world leader from their qualifying heat, Jamaica added a fresh Shericka Jackson to anchor. The British team brought in their star Dina Asher-Smith to run the second leg. Uncharacteristically, the United States chose to run the same four athletes in both heat and final.
On the first leg of the final, Natalliah Whyte got Jamaica into the lead passing to their star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce first. Against Asher-Smith, two lanes to her outside and the United States' Teahna Daniels three lanes out, Fraser-Pryce appeared to gain slightly against the stagger. One lane outside of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago's Kelly-Ann Baptiste had been left far behind, falling out of contention. Fraser-Price handed off to Jonielle Smith with the Jamaican lead intact.
Through the turn, Jamaica maintained the lead, while America's Morolake Akinosun and Great Britain's Ashleigh Nelson battled for second with Mujinga Kambundji bringing the Swiss team into contention, chased by China. Jamaica's final pass to Jackson had a slight hesitation but they still left the zone with a 3 metre lead.
Great Britain entered the final zone side by side with the United States. The British quartet's baton, passing to Daryll Neita on anchor was almost perfect, as the stick never stopped moving. In comparison, Morolake Akinosun for the United States all but ran up onto Kiara Parker before making the exchange. The British gained a metre and a half coming out of the zone with Switzerland's pass to Salomé Kora keeping pace.
Jackson held on to Jamaica's lead across the finish line with Neita running a strong final leg to keep the pressure on. Parker for the United States was unable to make any gain, but they held off a fast closing Switzerland for bronze.
Behind the front four, China's final pass from Kong Lingwei to Ge Manqi was disastrous. Arriving in the zone in contention for the bronze medal along with Switzerland, Great Britain and the United States, they were unable to complete the pass within the 30 metre zone. Two metres after the zone, Ge stopped with both athletes still holding the baton. Ge released it and both athletes scurried back into the zone, hesitated for a moment, then attempted to affect the exchange again. Kong tried to step forward to pass the baton, but she passed Ge who was standing in a statuesque position and not ready to accept the baton. Kong then stepped behind Ge, handed her the baton and Ge finally took off running some 20 seconds after Jackson, Neita and Parker had already crossed the finish line. The efforts were in vain in any case, as because the baton pass did not adhere to the rules, China was disqualified.
Jamaica's winning time 41.44 was the eighth fastest women's 4 × 100 of all time. At this point, five of the top eight times in history were Jamaican; Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce had participated in all five.
Records Before the competition records were as follows:
Record Team Date LocationWorld40.82Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter10 Aug 2012London, United KingdomChampionship41.07Veronica Campbell-Brown, Natasha Morrison, Elaine Thompson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-PryceBeijing, ChinaWorld leading41.67 Lisa-Marie Kwayie, Yasmin Kwadwo, Tatjana Pinto, Gina Lückenkemper1 Sep 2019Berlin, GermanyAfrican42.39Beatrice Utondu, Faith Idehen, Christy Opara-Thompson, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi7 Aug 1992Barcelona, SpainAsian42.23Xiao Lin, Li Yali, Liu Xiaomei, Li Xuemei23 Oct 1997Shanghai, ChinaNACAC40.82Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter10 Aug 2012London, United KingdomSouth American42.29Evelyn dos Santos, Ana Cláudia Lemos, Franciela Krasucki, Rosângela Santos18 Aug 2013Moscow, RussiaEuropean41.37Silke Gladisch-Möller, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald-Lange, Marlies Göhr6 Oct 1985Canberra, AustraliaOceanian42.99Rachael Massey, Suzanne Broadrick, Jodi Lambert, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor18 Mar 2000Pietersburg, South Africa
The following records were set at the competition: Record Team Date Italian42.90 Johanelis Herrera Abreu, Gloria Hooper, Anna Bongiorni, Irene Siragusa4 Oct 2019World leading41.44Natalliah Whyte, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jonielle Smith, Shericka Jackson5 Oct 2019Swiss42.18Ajla Del Ponte, Sarah Atcho, Mujinga Kambundji, Salomé Kora
Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:
Date Time Round4 October 20:40 Heats5 October 22:05 Final
Results Heats The first three in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.
Rank Heat Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes 1 2 8 Natalliah Whyte, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jonielle Smith, Natasha Morrison 42.11 Q, 2 2 4 Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Ashleigh Nelson, Daryll Neita 42.25 Q, 3 2 6 Liang Xiaojing, Wei Yongli, Kong Lingwei, Ge Manqi 42.36 Q 4 1 3 Dezerea Bryant, Teahna Daniels, Morolake Akinosun, Kiara Parker 42.46 Q 5 1 4 Semoy Hackett, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Reyare Thomas, Kamaria Durant 42.75 Q, 6 1 7 Ajla Del Ponte, Sarah Atcho, Mujinga Kambundji, Salomé Kora 42.82 Q 7 2 2 Lisa-Marie Kwayie, Yasmin Kwadwo, Jessica-Bianca Wessolly, Gina Lückenkemper 42.82 q 8 2 7 Johanelis Herrera Abreu, Gloria Hooper, Anna Bongiorni, Irene Siragusa 42.90 q, 9 1 2 Nargélis Statia Pieter, Marije van Hunenstijn, Jamile Samuel, Naomi Sedney 43.01 10 2 3 Joy Udo-Gabriel, Blessing Okagbare, Mercy Ntia-Obong, Rosemary Chukwuma 43.05 11 2 5 Flings Owusu-Agyapong, Gemma Acheampong, Persis William-Mensah, Halutie Hor 43.62 12 1 5 Rima Kashafutdinova, Elina Mikhina, Svetlana Golendova, Olga Safronova 43.79 13 1 9 Astrid Glenner-Frandsen, Ida Karstoft, Mette Graversgaard, Mathilde Kramer 43.92 1 6 Melissa Breen, Nana Adoma Owusu-Afriyie, Maddie Coates, Celeste Mucci 2 9 Bruna Farias, Vitória Cristina Rosa, Lorraine Martins, Rosângela Santos 1 8 Carolle Zahi, Cynthia Leduc, Estelle Raffai, Orlann Ombissa-Dzangue
Final The final was started on 5 October at 22:05.
Rank Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes 4 Natalliah Whyte, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jonielle Smith, Shericka Jackson 41.44 6 Asha Philip, Dina Asher-Smith, Ashleigh Nelson, Daryll Neita 41.85 7 Dezerea Bryant, Teahna Daniels, Morolake Akinosun, Kiara Parker 42.10 4 9 Ajla Del Ponte, Sarah Atcho, Mujinga Kambundji, Salomé Kora 42.18 5 2 Lisa-Marie Kwayie, Yasmin Kwadwo, Jessica-Bianca Wessolly, Gina Lückenkemper 42.48 6 5 Semoy Hackett, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Mauricia Prieto, Kamaria Durant 42.71 7 3 Johanelis Herrera Abreu, Gloria Hooper, Anna Bongiorni, Irene Siragusa 42.98 8 Liang Xiaojing, Wei Yongli, Kong Lingwei, Ge Manqi
References