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 United kingdom,London Olympic Stadium on 12 August.[1]

Men's 4 × 100 metres relay
at the 2017 World Championships
VenueOlympic Stadium
Dates12 August (heats & final)
Competitors64 from 15 nations
Winning time37.47
Medalists
gold medal    Great Britain
silver medal    United States
bronze medal    Japan
← 2015
2019 →
Video on YouTube
Official Video

Summary

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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. [citation needed]

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.[2]

Records

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Before the competition records were as follows:[3]

Record Perf. Team Date Location
World 36.84   Jamaica
Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt
11 Aug 2012 London, United Kingdom
Championship 37.04   Jamaica
Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt
4 Sep 2011 Daegu, South Korea
World leading 37.47   Great Britain
Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
12 Aug 2017 London, United Kingdom
African 37.94   Nigeria
Osmond Ezinwa, Olapade Adeniken, Francis Obikwelu, Davidson Ezinwa
9 Aug 1997 Athens, Greece
Asian 37.60   Japan
Ryota Yamagata, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Asuka Cambridge
19 Aug 2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
NACAC 36.84   Jamaica
Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt
11 Aug 2012 London, United Kingdom
South American 37.90   Brazil
Vicente de Lima, Édson Ribeiro, André da Silva, Claudinei da Silva
30 Sep 2000 Sydney, Australia
European 37.47   Great Britain
Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Daniel Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
12 Aug 2017 London, United Kingdom
Oceanian 38.17   Australia
Paul Henderson, Tim Jackson, Steve Brimacombe, Damien Marsh
12 Aug 1995 Gothenburg, Sweden
  Australia
Anthony Alozie, Isaac Ntiamoah, Andrew McCabe, Josh Ross
10 Aug 2012 London, United Kingdom

The following records were set at the competition:[4]

Record Perf. Team Date
World leading 37.47   Great Britain
Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
12 Aug 2017 22:01
European
British
World leading 37.47   United Kingdom
Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Daniel Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
12 Aug 2017 22:01

Qualification criteria

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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.[5]

Schedule

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The event schedule, in local time (UTC+1), is as follows:[6]

Date Time Round
12 August 10:55 Heats
12 August 21:50 Final

Results

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Heats

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Video on YouTube
Official Video

The first round took place on 12 August in two heats as follows:[7]

Heat 1 2
Start time 10:55 11:04
Photo finish link link

The first three in each heat ( Q ) and the next two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:[8]

Rank Heat Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes
1 1 8   United States (USA) Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Beejay Lee, Christian Coleman 37.70 Q, WL
2 1 4   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake 37.76 Q, SB
3 2 3   Jamaica (JAM) Tyquendo Tracey, Julian Forte, Micheal Campbell, Usain Bolt 37.95 Q, SB
4 2 8   France (FRA) Stuart Dutamby, Jimmy Vicaut, Mickaël-Méba Zeze, Christophe Lemaitre 38.03 Q, SB
5 2 6   China (CHN) Wu Zhiqiang, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian, Zhang Peimeng 38.20 Q
6 1 5   Japan (JPN) Shuhei Tada, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Asuka Cambridge 38.21 Q, SB
7 1 9   Turkey (TUR) Yiğitcan Hekimoğlu, Jak Ali Harvey, Emre Zafer Barnes, Ramil Guliyev 38.44 q, SB
8 2 2   Canada (CAN) Gavin Smellie, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, Mobolade Ajomale 38.48 q
9 1 6   Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) Keston Bledman, Kyle Greaux, Moriba Morain, Emmanuel Callender 38.61 SB
10 2 7   Germany (GER) Julian Reus, Robert Hering, Roy Schmidt, Robin Erewa 38.66
11 1 2   Netherlands (NED) Giovanni Codrington, Hensley Paulina, Liemarvin Bonevacia, Taymir Burnet 38.66 SB
12 1 7   Australia (AUS) Trae Williams, Tom Gamble, Nick Andrews, Rohan Browning 38.88 SB
13 2 4   Cuba (CUB) Harlyn Pérez, Roberto Skyers, Yaniel Carrero, José Luis Gaspar 39.01 SB
14 1 3   Barbados (BAR) Levi Cadogan, Ramon Gittens, Shane Brathwaite, Mario Burke 39.19
2 9   Bahamas (BAH) Warren Fraser, Shavez Hart, Sean Stuart, Teray Smith DQ R 163.3
2 5   Antigua and Barbuda (ANT) DNS

Final

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The final took place on 12 August at 22:01. The results were as follows (photo finish):[9]

Rank Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes
  7   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake 37.47 WL, AR
  4   United States (USA) Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Jaylen Bacon, Christian Coleman 37.52 SB
  9   Japan (JPN) Shuhei Tada, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Kenji Fujimitsu 38.04 SB
4 8   China (CHN) Wu Zhiqiang, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian, Zhang Peimeng 38.34
5 6   France (FRA) Stuart Dutamby, Jimmy Vicaut, Mickaël-Méba Zeze, Christophe Lemaitre 38.48
6 2   Canada (CAN) Gavin Smellie, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, Mobolade Ajomale 38.59
7 3   Turkey (TUR) Yiğitcan Hekimoğlu, Jak Ali Harvey, Emre Zafer Barnes, Ramil Guliyev 38.73
5   Jamaica (JAM) Omar McLeod, Julian Forte, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt DNF

References

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  1. ^ Start list
  2. ^ "Great Britain storm to surprise gold in men's 4x100m relay final at World Championships". The Independent. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  3. ^ "4x100 Metres Relay Men – Records". IAAF. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Records Set - Final" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Qualification System and Entry Standards" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  6. ^ "4x100 Metres Relay Men − Timetable". IAAF. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  7. ^ "4x100 Metres Relay Men − Heats − Results" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  8. ^ "4x100 Metres Relay Men − Heats − Summary" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  9. ^ "4x100 Metres Relay Men − Final− Results" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 14 August 2017.