# 2017 IAAF World Relays – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2017 IAAF World Relays was held at the Thomas Robinson Stadium on 22–23 April.
In the final, American David Verburg took an immediate lead, opening up a gap on French, Brazilian and Cuban teams to his inside, and making up the three turn stagger on Botswana's Isaac Makwala (the #7 400 meter runner of all time) to his outside while still in the second turn. USA had a clear lead at the handoff with Tony McQuay breaking several metres ahead of Demish Gaye for Jamaica on the far outside. Down the backstretch Trinidad and Tobago's Jereem Richards, Botswana's Baboloki Thebe and Britain's Delano Williams lined up, breaking away from the other teams. Through the turn Thebe moved onto Richards' shoulder. Richards responded and moved up to Gaye, the three teams virtually even until Thebe fell back before the handoff. Trinidad gained position on the handoff to Jarrin Solomon, who found himself only two metres back of American Kyle Clemons. Down the backstretch, Jamaica's Martin Manley ran around Solomon and pulled to within a metre of Clemons coming off the final turn. As Manley tied up, Solomon came back to his shoulder with Botswana's Onkabetse Nkobolo making a big rush on the outside to make it a 3-way battle behind the Americans. At the handoff, American LaShawn Merritt started slowly and took a secure handoff. Meanwhile, Botswana's handoff to Karabo Sibanda was almost as efficient as a 4x100 handoff, Botswana gaining the advantage and moving right behind Merritt. Behind, Jamaica's Steven Gayle pushed down the backstretch, passing Sibanda and even, for a moment, Merritt on the inside. Merritt fought back and held off Gayle going into the final turn but Sibanda used that moment to sprint around the outside, gaining a microscopic lead on Merritt. Merritt successfully held Sibanda to the outside, making him run the extra distance through the turn. Coming off the turn, Merritt had gained a slight advantage but Sibanda was not done, making one more charge at Merritt down the final straightaway. Merritt held Sibanda off again, USA taking a 1-metre win.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:
| World record | United States (Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds, Michael Johnson) | 2:54.29 | Stuttgart, Germany | 22 August 1993 |
| Championship record | United States (David Verburg, Tony McQuay, Christian Taylor, LaShawn Merritt | 2:57.25 | Nassau, Bahamas | 25 May 2014 |
| World Leading | Empire Athletics (Machel Cedenio Trinidad and Tobago, Tony McQuay United States, Kyle Clemons United States, Jehue Gordon Trinidad and Tobago | 3:00.92 | Gainesville, United States | 1 April 2017 |
| African Record | Nigeria (Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Sunday Bada, Enefiok Udo-Obong) | 2:58.68 | Sydney, Australia | 30 September 2000 |
| Asian Record | Japan (Shunji Karube, Koji Ito, Jun Osakada, Shigekazu Omori) | 3:00.76 | Atlanta, United States | 3 August 1996 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | United States (Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds, Michael Johnson) | 2:54.29 | Stuttgart, Germany | 22 August 1993 |
| South American Record | Brazil (Eronilde de Araújo, Cleverson da Silva, Claudinei da Silva, Sanderlei Parrela) | 2:58.56 | Winnipeg, Canada | 30 July 1999 |
| European Record | Great Britain (Iwan Thomas, Jamie Baulch, Mark Richardson, Roger Black) | 2:56.60 | Atlanta, United States | 3 August 1996 |
| Oceanian record | Australia (Bruce Frayne, Gary Minihan, Rick Mitchell, Darren Clark) | 2:59.70 | Los Angeles, United States | 11 August 1984 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 22 April 2017 | 21:12 | Heats |
| 23 April 2017 | 20:22 | Final B |
| 23 April 2017 | 21:55 | Final |
All times are local times (UTC-4)

## Results

| KEY: | Q | Qualified | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best | *WC | 2017 World Championships qualification |

### Heats

Qualification: First 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) advanced to the final. The next 8 fastest times qualified for the final B.
| Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Trinidad and Tobago | Renny Quow, Jereem Richards, Deon Lendore, Lalonde Gordon | 3:02.51 | Q, SB |
| 2 | 2 | United States | Kyle Clemons, Najee Glass, Tony McQuay, David Verburg | 3:02.62 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Botswana | Isaac Makwala, Karabo Sibanda, Onkabetse Nkobolo, Baboloki Thebe | 3:03.09 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 3 | Jamaica | Javere Bell, Javon Francis, Peter Matthews, Demish Gaye | 3:03.52 | Q, SB |
| 5 | 1 | France | Mamadou Kassé Hanne, Teddy Atine-Venel, Mamoudou-Elimane Hanne, Thomas Jordier | 3:04.74 | Q, SB |
| 6 | 2 | Cuba | Williams Collazo, Adrián Chacón, Osmaidel Pellicier, Yoandys Lescay | 3:04.97 | q, SB |
| 7 | 3 | Brazil | Anderson Henriques, Alexander Russo, Lucas Carvalho, Hugo de Sousa | 3:05.05 | q, SB |
| 8 | 1 | Great Britain | Matthew Hudson-Smith, Delano Williams, Jarryd Dunn, Theo Campbell | 3:05.19 | Q, SB |
| 9 | 1 | Bahamas | Michael Mathieu, Demetrius Pinder, Andretti Bain, Steven Gardiner | 3:05.37 | SB |
| 10 | 1 | Belgium | Dylan Borlée, Julien Watrin, Michaël Rossaert, Kévin Borlée | 3:05.45 | SB |
| 11 | 3 | Kenya | Collins Gichana, Boniface Mweresa, Geoffrey Kiprotich Rono, Alphas Kishoyian | 3:05.93 | SB |
| 12 | 1 | Czech Republic | Michal Desenský, Patrik Šorm, Jan Tesař, Vít Müller | 3:07.58 | SB |
| 13 | 1 | Germany | Alexander Gladitz, Alexander Juretzko, Johannes Trefz, Thomas Schneider | 3:07.80 | SB |
| 14 | 1 | Canada | Daniel Harper, Graeme Thompson, Benjamin Ayesu-Attah, Rayshaun Franklin | 3:08.05 | |
| 15 | 2 | Poland | Kacper Kozłowski, Łukasz Krawczuk, Przemysław Waściński, Rafał Omelko | 3:08.42 | |
| | 2 | Dominican Republic | Luis Charles, Gustavo Cuesta, Franklin Luis, Máximo Mercedes | DQ | R170.6(c) |
| | 2 | Japan | Julian Jrummi Walsh, Tomoya Tamura, Naoki Kobayashi, Kosuke Horii | DNF | |
| | 3 | Venezuela | | DNS | |

### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time |
| 1 | 6 | Kenya | Alphas Kishoyian, Collins Gichana, Geoffrey Kiprotich Rono, Boniface Mweresa | 3:06.36 |
| 2 | 5 | Belgium | Dylan Borlée, Julien Watrin, Michaël Rossaert, Kévin Borlée | 3:07.14 |
| 3 | 2 | Poland | Kacper Kozłowski, Łukasz Krawczuk, Bartłomiej Chojnowski, Rafał Omelko | 3:07.89 |
| 4 | 7 | Czech Republic | Patrik Šorm, Vít Müller, Michal Desenský, Jan Tesař | 3:08.17 |
| 5 | 4 | Bahamas | Andretti Bain, Demetrius Pinder, Elroy McBride, Andre Colebrook | 3:08.29 |
| 6 | 8 | Germany | Alexander Juretzko, Johannes Trefz, Fabian Dammermann, Thomas Schneider | 3:09.53 |
| 7 | 3 | Canada | Daniel Harper, Graeme Thompson, Rayshaun Franklin, Benjamin Ayesu-Attah | 3:12.52 |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes | Points |
| | 4 | United States | David Verburg, Tony McQuay, Kyle Clemons, LaShawn Merritt | 3:02.13 | *WC | 8 |
| | 5 | Botswana | Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe, Onkabetse Nkobolo, Karabo Sibanda | 3:02.28 | *WC | 7 |
| | 8 | Jamaica | Peter Matthews, Demish Gaye, Martin Manley, Steven Gayle | 3:02.84 | *WC | 6 |
| 4 | 6 | Trinidad and Tobago | Renny Quow, Jereem Richards, Jarrin Solomon, Lalonde Gordon | 3:03.17 | *WC | 5 |
| 5 | 1 | Cuba | Williams Collazo, Adrián Chacón, Osmaidel Pellicier, Yoandys Lescay | 3:03.60 | *WC | 4 |
| 6 | 7 | Great Britain | Matthew Hudson-Smith, Delano Williams, Jarryd Dunn, Theo Campbell | 3:03.84 | *WC | 3 |
| 7 | 2 | Brazil | Anderson Henriques, Alexander Russo, Hugo de Sousa, Lucas Carvalho | 3:05.96 | *WC | 2 |
| 8 | 3 | France | Mamadou Kasse Hann, Teddy Atine-Venel, Mamoudou Eliman Hanne, Thomas Jordier | 3:06.33 | *WC | 1 |