# 2011 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay

The Men's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on 4 September 2011.
The winning margin was 1.16 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 4 x 100 metres relay has been won by more than a second at these championships.
USA won the first semi-final with deliberate handoffs, setting the world leader. France followed them into the final. The second semi-final was won by Trinidad and Tobago, ahead of favored Jamaica. Saint Kitts and Nevis set their national record in making the time qualifier in third. The third semi-final was much closer as Great Britain led Poland, with Italy making the final time qualifier.
In the final, Nesta Carter put Jamaica out into the lead, but Justin Gatlin ran down Michael Frater to put the USA even with Jamaica. On the third leg, Yohan Blake again edged Jamaica into the lead. Going into the final handoff, Darvis Patton of USA clipped Britain's Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and fell into a forward roll. American anchor Walter Dix never saw the baton and the British team also did not finish the race. In addition, Patton's fall seriously impeded Richard Thompson, Trinidad and Tobago's anchor, which caused his team to finish last. Meanwhile Usain Bolt took the baton and pulled away. Jamaica bettered their own World Record to finish in a time of 37.04. It was the only world record to be set at the championships. France finished second with Saint Kitts and Nevis third.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Jamaica (JAM) Nesta Carter Michael Frater Yohan Blake Usain Bolt Dexter Lee* | France (FRA) Teddy Tinmar Christophe Lemaitre Yannick Lesourd Jimmy Vicaut | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) Jason Rogers Kim Collins Antoine Adams Brijesh Lawrence |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the established records were as follows.
| World record | Jamaica (Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell) | 37.10 | Beijing, PR China | 22 August 2008 |
| Championship record | Jamaica (Usain Bolt, Michael Frater, Steve Mullings, Asafa Powell) | 37.31 | Berlin, Germany | 22 August 2009 |
| World leading | United States (Trell Kimmons, Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Walter Dix) | 37.90 | Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy | 19 July 2011 |
| African record | Nigeria (Osmond Ezinwa, Olapade Adeniken, Francis Obikwelu, Davidson Ezinwa) | 37.94 | Athens, Greece | 9 August 1997 |
| Asian record | Japan (Nobuharu Asahara, Shinji Takahira, Shingo Suetsugu, Naoki Tsukahara) | 38.03 | Osaka, Japan | 1 September 2007 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Jamaica (Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell) | 37.10 | Beijing, PR China | 22 August 2008 |
| South American record | Brazil (Vicente de Lima, Édson Ribeiro, André da Silva, Claudinei da Silva) | 37.90 | Sydney, Australia | 30 September 2000 |
| European record | Great Britain (Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish, Dwain Chambers) | 37.73 | Seville, Spain | 29 August 1999 |
| Oceanian record | Australia (Paul Henderson, Tim Jackson, Steve Brimacombe, Damien Marsh) | 38.17 | Gothenburg, Sweden | 12 August 1995 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 4 September 2011 | 19:00 | Heats |
| 4 September 2011 | 21:00 | Final |

## Results

| KEY: | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | Q | Qualified | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |

### Heats

Qualification: First 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | United States (USA) | Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Maurice Mitchell, Travis Padgett | 37.79 | Q, WL |
| 2 | 2 | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | Keston Bledman, Marc Burns, Aaron Armstrong, Richard Thompson | 37.91 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 2 | Jamaica (JAM) | Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Dexter Lee | 38.07 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 3 | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | Christian Malcolm, Craig Pickering, Marlon Devonish, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey | 38.29 | Q, SB |
| 5 | 3 | Poland (POL) | Paweł Stempel, Dariusz Kuć, Robert Kubaczyk, Kamil Kryński | 38.37 | Q, SB |
| 6 | 1 | France (FRA) | Teddy Tinmar, Christophe Lemaitre, Yannick Lesourd, Jimmy Vicaut | 38.38 | Q, SB |
| 7 | 3 | Italy (ITA) | Michael Tumi, Simone Collio, Emanuele Di Gregorio, Fabio Cerutti | 38.41 | q, SB |
| 8 | 2 | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | Jason Rogers, Kim Collins, Antoine Adams, Brijesh Lawrence | 38.47 | q, NR |
| 9 | 2 | Japan (JPN) | Yuichi Kobayashi, Masashi Eriguchi, Shinji Takahira, Hitoshi Saito | 38.66 | SB |
| 10 | 3 | Australia (AUS) | Anthony Alozie, Matt Davies, Aaron Rouge-Serret, Isaac Ntiamoah | 38.69 | SB |
| 11 | 2 | South Africa (RSA) | Hannes Dreyer, Ofentse Mogawane, Roscoe Engel, Thuso Mpuang | 38.72 | SB |
| 12 | 2 | China (CHN) | Chen Qiang, Liang Jiahong, Su Bingtian, Lao Yi | 38.87 | SB |
| 13 | 2 | Puerto Rico (PUR) | Marcos Amalbert, Carlos Rodríguez, Marquis Holston, Miguel López | 39.04 | NR |
| 14 | 1 | Portugal (POR) | Ricardo Monteiro, João Ferreira, Arnaldo Abrantes, Yazaldes Nascimento | 39.09 | SB |
| 15 | 1 | Ghana (GHA) | Emmanuel Kubi, Tim Abeyie, Ashhad Agyapong, Aziz Zakari | 39.17 | |
| 16 | 1 | Chinese Taipei (TPE) | Wang Wen-Tang, Liu Yuan-Kai, Tsai Meng-Lin, Yi Wei-Chen | 39.30 | |
| 17 | 3 | Canada (CAN) | Sam Effah, Gavin Smellie, Jared Connaughton, Justyn Warner | 39.28 | |
| 18 | 3 | Thailand (THA) | Weerawat Pharueang, Suppachai Chimdee, Sompote Suwannarangsri, Jirapong Meenapra | 39.54 | SB |
| | 1 | Brazil (BRA) | Diego Cavalcanti, Sandro Viana, Nilson André, Bruno de Barros | DSQ | |
| | 3 | South Korea (KOR) | Yeo Ho-Suah, Cho Kyu-won, Kim Kukyoung, Lim Hee-nam | DSQ | |
| | 3 | Netherlands (NED) | Giovanni Codrington, Brian Mariano, Jerrel Feller, Patrick van Luijk | DSQ | |
| | 2 | Germany (GER) | Tobias Unger, Marius Broening, Sebastian Ernst, Alex Schaf | DNF | |
| | 1 | Switzerland (SUI) | Pascal Mancini, Reto Schenkel, Alex Wilson, Marc Schneeberger | DNF | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Jamaica (JAM) | Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt | 37.04 | WR |
| | 8 | France (FRA) | Teddy Tinmar, Christophe Lemaitre, Yannick Lesourd, Jimmy Vicaut | 38.20 | SB |
| | 1 | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | Jason Rogers, Kim Collins, Antoine Adams, Brijesh Lawrence | 38.49 | |
| 4 | 7 | Poland (POL) | Paweł Stempel, Dariusz Kuć, Robert Kubaczyk, Kamil Kryński | 38.50 | |
| 5 | 2 | Italy (ITA) | Michael Tumi, Simone Collio, Emanuele Di Gregorio, Fabio Cerutti | 38.96 | |
| 6 | 5 | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | Keston Bledman, Marc Burns, Aaron Armstrong, Richard Thompson | 39.01 * | |
| | 4 | United States (USA) | Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Darvis Patton, Walter Dix | DNF | |
| | 3 | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | Christian Malcolm, Craig Pickering, Marlon Devonish, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey | DNF | |
* Trinidad and Tobago's Aaron Armstrong tripped over USA's falling Darvis Patton, causing them to finish last.