The men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 5 to 6 October 2019.
Summary Colombia set a new national record in the qualifying round.
In the final event of these championships, USA was able to cast three fresh athletes into the final, with the only holdover Wilbert London. They led off with their bronze medalist Fred Kerley, but the early leader was Jamaica's Akeem Bloomfield, with Belgium's Jonathan Sacoor also in the mix. Down the home stretch, Kerley pulled back ground as Bloomfield slowed, by the handoff, USA had a step on Jamaica. Michael Cherry expanded USA's advantage over Jamaica's Nathon Allen through the turn to take 3 metres at the break. Behind him, Colombia's Diego Palomeque also ran a strong turn to pip Belgium's Robin Vanderbemden for third place. Through the final turn, Allen pulled in a metre on Cherry. While losing ground to the leaders, Trinidad and Tobago's Jereem Richards brought them into a 3-way battle for bronze. Onto the home stretch, Allen started losing ground to Cherry, sliding back toward the battle. With five metres, Cherry handed off to London, wearing a white sweatband on his head. In early strategy sessions, USA probably planned on their new superstar who wears a similar sweatband, Michael Norman, anchoring, but had to rearrange after Norman shut it down during his 400 semi-final. Jamaica's Terry Thomas took off after London, gaining strongly on the backstretch to shadow London through the final turn. Thomas set himself up to pounce coming off the turn, instead London slowly began widening the gap, getting the lead back to 4 metres before he named off to Norman's training partner, hurdler Rai Benjamin. Behind London and Thomas, Belgium's Dylan Borlée put an early gap on Colombia's Jhon Solís and was now free by 3 metres at the handoff to his brother Kevin Borlée. Benjamin slowly expanded his lead on Jamaica's Demish Gaye, by the finish it was 11 metres. Another 12 metres behind Jamaica, Borlée was able to hold off Colombia's new find, silver medalist Anthony Zambrano for bronze.
USA's 2:56.69 was the fastest relay in 11 years, number 11 on the all-time list. 8 of the 10 times ahead of them are also USA teams. Colombia set a new national record again in the final, a second and a half improvement, going under 3 minutes for the first time and moving their country into #15 on the all-time list.
Records Before the competition records were as follows:
Record Team Date LocationWorld2:54.29Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, Michael Duane Johnson22 Aug 1993Stuttgart, GermanyChampionshipWorld leading2:59.05Texas A&M University Bryce Deadmon, Robert Grant, Kyree Johnson, Devin Dixon7 Jun 2019Austin, United StatesAfrican2:58.68Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Sunday Bada, Enefiok Udo-ObongSydney, AustraliaAsian3:00.56Abderrahman Samba, Mohamed Nasir Abbas, Mohamed El Nour, Abdalelah Haroun30 Aug 2018Jakarta, IndonesiaNACAC2:54.29Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds, Michael Johnson22 Aug 1993Stuttgart, GermanySouth American2:58.56Eronilde de Araújo, Cleverson da Silva, Claudinei da Silva, Sanderlei Parrela30 Jul 1999Winnipeg, CanadaEuropean2:56.60Jamie Baulch, Iwan Thomas, Mark Richardson, Roger Black3 Aug 1996Atlanta, United StatesOceanian2:59.70Bruce Frayne, Gary Minihan, Rick Mitchell, Darren Clark11 Aug 1984Los Angeles, United States
The following records were matched or set at the competition: Record Team Date Colombian3:01.06 Jhon Perlaza, Diego Palomeque, Jhon Solís, Anthony Zambrano 5 Oct 2019World leading2:56.69 Fred Kerley, Michael Cherry, Wilbert London, Rai Benjamin6 Oct 2019Colombian2:59.50 Jhon Perlaza, Diego Palomeque, Jhon Solís, Anthony Zambrano
Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:
Date Time Round5 October 20:25 Heats6 October 21:30 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 1 4 Tyrell Richard, Vernon Norwood, Wilbert London, Nathan Strother 2:59.89 Q 2 2 5 Akeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen, Terry Thomas, Javon Francis 3:00.76 Q, 3 2 6 Dylan Borlée, Julien Watrin, Jonathan Sacoor, Kevin Borlée 3:00.87 Q, 4 1 9 Jhon Perlaza, Diego Palomeque, Jhon Solís, Anthony Zambrano 3:01.06 Q, 5 2 8 Asa Guevara, Jereem Richards, Darren Alfred, Deon Lendore 3:01.35 Q 6 2 7 Ludvy Vaillant, Christopher Naliali, Thomas Jordier, Mame-Ibra Anne 3:01.40 q, 7 1 8 Edoardo Scotti, Vladimir Aceti, Matteo Galvan, Davide Re 3:01.60 Q, 8 1 6 Cameron Chalmers, Rabah Yousif, Lee Thompson, Martyn Rooney 3:01.96 q, 9 1 7 Julian Walsh, Shōta Iizuka, Kentaro Sato, Kota Wakabayashi 3:02.05 10 2 3 Thapelo Phora, Gardeo Isaacs, Ranti Dikgale, Derrick Mokaleng 3:02.06 11 2 9 Jan Tesař, Michal Desenský, Patrik Šorm, Vít Müller 3:02.97 12 2 4 Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Anas, Jeevan Karekoppa Suresh, Noah Nirmal Tom 3:03.09 13 1 3 Óscar Husillos, Samuel García, Julio Arenas, Darwin Echeverry 3:04.27 14 1 2 Steven Solomon, Alex Beck, Murray Goodwin, Ian Halpin 3:05.49 15 2 2 Bassem Hemeida, Abubaker Haydar Abdalla, Ashraf Hussein Osman, Mohamed Nasir Abbas 3:06.25 1 5 Zibane Ngozi, Ditiro Nzamani, Onkabetse Nkobolo, Leungo Scotch
Final The final was started on 6 October at 21:36.
Rank Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes 4 Fred Kerley, Michael Cherry, Wilbert London, Rai Benjamin 2:56.69 5 Akeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen, Terry Thomas, Demish Gaye 2:57.90 7 Jonathan Sacoor, Robin Vanderbemden, Dylan Borlée, Kevin Borlée 2:58.78 4 6 Jhon Perlaza, Diego Palomeque, Jhon Solís, Anthony Zambrano 2:59.50 5 9 Asa Guevara, Jereem Richards, Deon Lendore, Machel Cedenio 3:00.74 6 8 Davide Re, Vladimir Aceti, Matteo Galvan, Edoardo Scotti 3:02.78 7 3 Ludvy Vaillant, Christopher Naliali, Thomas Jordier, Mame-Ibra Anne 3:03.06 2 Cameron Chalmers, Toby Harries, Rabah Yousif, Lee Thompson
References