# 1987 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

The 4 × 400 metres relay at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Stadio Olimpico on September 5 and September 6.

## Medals

| Gold: | Silver: | Bronze: |
| United States Danny Everett Roddie Haley Antonio McKay Harry Reynolds Michael Franks* Raymond Pierre* | Great Britain Derek Redmond Kriss Akabusi Roger Black Philip Brown Todd Bennett* Mark Thomas* | Cuba Leandro Peñalver Agustin Pavó Lázaro Martínez Roberto Hernández |
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

## Records

Existing records at the start of the event.
| World Record | United States (USA) | 2:56.16 | Mexico City, Mexico | October 20, 1968 |
| Championship Record | Soviet Union (URS) | 3:00.79 | Helsinki, Finland | August 14, 1983 |

## Results

All times shown are in seconds.
* AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
* DNS = did not start | DQ = disqualification | NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result) | Q = qualification by place in heat | q = qualification by overall place

### Final

| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes |
| | United States | Danny Everett, Roddie Haley, Antonio McKay, Butch Reynolds | 2:57.29 | CR |
| | Great Britain | Derek Redmond, Kriss Akabusi, Roger Black, Philip Brown) | 2:58.86 | AR |
| | Cuba | Leandro Peñalver, Agustin Pavó, Lázaro Martínez, Roberto Hernández | 2:59.16 | NR |
| 4 | West Germany | Norbert Dobeleit, Mark Henrich, Edgar Itt, Harald Schmid | 2:59.96 | NR |
| 5 | Kenya | Joseph Sainah, John Anzrah, Elijah Bitok, David Kitur | 3:01.67 | |
| 6 | Jamaica | Mark Senior, Devon Morris, Winthrop Graham, Bert Cameron | 3:04.53 | |
| ** | Soviet Union | Yevgeniy Lomtyev, Vladimir Prosin, Aleksandr Kurochkin, Vladimir Krylov | DNF | |
| ** | Nigeria | Moses Ugbisie, Joseph Falaye, Henry Amike, Innocent Egbunike | DNS | |

### Semi-finals
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes |
| 1 | Cuba | Leandro Peñalver, Agustin Pavó, Lázaro Martínez, Roberto Hernández | 3:00.99 | Q |
| 2 | Great Britain | Mark Thomas, Kriss Akabusi, Todd Bennett, Philip Brown | 3:01.47 | Q |
| 3 | Soviet Union | Arkadiy Kornilov, Yevgeniy Lomtyev, Vladimir Prosin, Aleksandr Kurochkin | 3:01.61 | Q |
| 4 | Nigeria | Moses Ugbisie, Joseph Falaye, Henry Amike, Innocent Egbunike | 3:01.92 | Q |
| 5 | Canada | Andre Smith, Courtney Brown, John Graham, Anton Skerritt | 3:02.90 | |
| 6 | France | Aldo Canti, Jean-Jacques Boussemart, Patrick Barré, Yann Quentrec | 3:03.41 | |
| 7 | Japan | Koichi Konakatomi, Kenji Yamauchi, Hiromi Kawasumi, Susumu Takano | 3:04.86 | |
| 8 | Spain | Cayetano Cornet, Antonio Sánchez, José Alonso, Angel Heras | 3:06.41 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes |
| 1 | United States | Danny Everett, Michael Franks, Raymond Pierre, Antonio McKay | 2:59.06 | CR Q |
| 2 | Kenya | Joseph Sainah, Elijah Bitok, David Kitur, John Anzrah | 3:00.73 | Q |
| 3 | Jamaica | Mark Senior, Devon Morris, Winthrop Graham, Bert Cameron | 3:01.08 | NR Q |
| 4 | West Germany | Peter Schwelm, Edgar Itt, Klaus Just, Mark Henrich | 3:01.18 | Q |
| 5 | Yugoslavia | Branislav Karaulić, Slobodan Popović, Slobodan Branković, Ismail Mačev | 3:03.30 | NR |
| 6 | Italy | Marcello Pantone, Vito Petrella, Tiziano Gemelli, Roberto Ribaud | 3:03.91 |
| 7 | Australia | Robert Stone, Gary Minihan, Peter Stubbs, Darren Clark | 3:04.59 | |
| ** | East Germany | Jens Carlowitz, Frank Möller, Mathias Schersing, Thomas Schönlebe | DNF | |

### Heats
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes |
| 1 | United States | Danny Everett, Michael Franks, Raymond Pierre, Antonio McKay | 3:03.00 | Q |
| 2 | East Germany | Mathias Schersing, Michael Schimmer, Jens Carlowitz, Thomas Schönlebe | 3:03.57 | Q |
| 3 | Yugoslavia | Branislav Karaulić, Slobodan Popović, Slobodan Branković, Ismail Mačev | 3:03.89 | Q |
| 4 | Nigeria | Moses Ugbisie, Joseph Falaye, Henry Amike, Innocent Egbunike | 3:03.90 | Q |
| 5 | Canada | Andre Smith, Courtney Brown, John Graham, Anton Skerritt | 3:04.08 | q |
| 6 | Spain | Cayetano Cornet, Antonio Sánchez, José Alonso, Angel Heras | 3:05.02 | q |
| 7 | Ivory Coast | Akissi Kpidi, Zongo Kuyo, Djedjemel Anatole, René Mélédjé | 3:05.34 | |
| 8 | Ireland | Kieran Finn, Gerry Delaney, John Barry, Peter Sinclair | 3:07.18 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes |
| 1 | Kenya | Joseph Sainah, Elijah Bitok, Tito Sawe, John Anzrah | 3:02.32 | Q |
| 2 | Cuba | Leandro Peñalver, Agustin Pavó, Lázaro Martínez, Roberto Hernández | 3:02.62 | Q |
| 3 | Soviet Union | Arkadiy Kornilov, Yevgeniy Lomtyev, Vladimir Prosin, Aleksandr Kurochkin | 3:02.79 | Q |
| 4 | Jamaica | Mark Senior, Devon Morris, Winthrop Graham, Bert Cameron | 3:05.11 | Q |
| 5 | Czechoslovakia | Jindrich Roun, Stanislav Navesnak, Jozef Kucej, Lubos Balosak | 3:05.44 | |
| 6 | Brazil | Washington Rodrigues, Sérgio Menezes, Gerson A. Souza, José Luíz Barbosa | 3:05.64 | |
| 7 | Argentina | Fabián Garbolino, Dardo Angerami, Luis Migueles, José María Beduino | 3:12.96 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes |
| 1 | Great Britain | Mark Thomas, Kriss Akabusi, Todd Bennett, Philip Brown | 3:03.75 | Q |
| 2 | Japan | Koichi Konakatomi, Kenji Yamauchi, Hiromi Kawasumi, Susumu Takano | 3:03.86 | Q |
| 3 | West Germany | Peter Schwelm, Mark Henrich, Klaus Just, Edgar Itt | 3:03.87 | Q |
| 4 | Australia | Robert Stone, Gary Minihan, Peter Stubbs, Darren Clark | 3:04.22 | Q |
| 5 | Italy | Marcello Pantone, Vito Petrella, Andrea Montanari, Roberto Ribaud | 3:04.64 | q |
| 6 | France | Aldo Canti, Jean-Jacques Boussemart, Patrick Barré, Yann Quentrec | 3:04.64 | q |
| 7 | Chinese Taipei | Lin Kuang-liang, Hsu Ruo-ta, Lee Shiun-long, Lin Tsai-tien | 3:11.45 | |