# 2015 IAAF World Relays – Men's 4 × 200 metres relay

The men's 4 × 200 metres relay at the 2015 IAAF World Relays was held at the Thomas Robinson Stadium on 3 May.
On paper this race looked like a Jamaican record attempt with the American team their closest competitor. Jamaica brought all its guns, and strategically held out Usain Bolt and Nickel Ashmeade from the qualifying round. But when it came time for the final, Bolt was nowhere to be seen. A minor hamstring injury earlier in the meet kept the world record holder in the locker room listening to music when the finals were held. The first two legs went as scripted with Jamaica taking a significant lead, but at the second handoff, Jason Livermore seemed completely unprepared to take a handoff, standing flatfooted as Rasheed Dwyer passed him and handed the baton backward. Still the Jamaican handoff was legal, just costing the team valuable seconds. In the adjacent lane, the American team saw Curtis Mitchell line up in the wrong spot and while Isiah Young came in on the inside of his lane, Mitchell performed first a lane violation then after being passed by Young, a pirouette to drop the baton outside of the end of the zone. Mitchell picked up the baton to continue now well back in the field. Out of this chaos, the well trained French squad was left in the lead through the final turn. It was only the difference in Warren Weir's superior speed that allowed him to pass Ben Bassaw on the home stretch to take Jamaica to victory. USA crossed the line in third, but were disqualified for the handoff violation.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:
| World record | Jamaica (Nickel Ashmeade, Warren Weir, Jermaine Brown, Yohan Blake) | 1:18.63 | Nassau, Bahamas | 24 May 2014 |
| Championship record | Jamaica (Nickel Ashmeade, Warren Weir, Jermaine Brown, Yohan Blake) | 1:18.63 | Nassau, Bahamas | 24 May 2014 |
| World Leading | United States (Joseph Morris, Maurice Mitchell, Ameer Webb, Wallace Spearmon) | 1:20.64 | Philadelphia, United States | 25 April 2015 |
| African Record | South Africa (Marcus la Grange, Mathew Quinn, Josef van der Linde, Paul Gorries) | 1:22.06 | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | 1 March 2002 |
| Asian Record | Waseda University | 1:22.12 | Yokohama, Japan | 14 September 2014 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Jamaica (Nickel Ashmeade, Warren Weir, Jermaine Brown, Yohan Blake) | 1:18.63 | Nassau, Bahamas | 24 May 2014 |
| South American Record | Guyana (Adam Harris, Winston George, Jeremy Bascom, Stephan James) | 1:24.42 | Philadelphia, United States | 25 April 2015 |
| European Record | France (Christophe Lemaitre, Yannick Fonsat, Ben Bassaw, Ken Romain) | 1:20.66 | Nassau, Bahamas | 24 May 2014 |
| Oceanian record | Australia (Scott Vassella, Shem Hollands, Dean Capobianco, Peter Vassella) | 1:23.04 | Sydney, Australia | 6 December 1998 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 3 May 2014 | 19:00 | Heats |
| 3 May 2014 | 21:20 | Final |
All times are local times (UTC−4)

## Results

| KEY: | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | Q | Qualified | WL | World leading | NR | National record | SB | Seasonal best |

### Heats

Qualification: First 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 7 | Jamaica | Rasheed Dwyer, Jason Livermore, Jermaine Brown, Warren Weir | 1:20.19 | Q, WL |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | United States | Joseph Morris, Isiah Young, Justin Walker, Wallace Spearmon | 1:20.78 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | 5 | France | Pierre Vincent, Teddy Tinmar, Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Ben Bassaw | 1:21.41 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | Germany | Robin Erewa, Sven Knipphals, Aleixo-Platini Menga, Alexander Kosenkow | 1:21.46 | q, NR |
| 5 | 2 | 5 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Antoine Adams, Lestrod Roland, Brijesh Lawrence, Allistar Clarke | 1:22.36 | Q, SB |
| 6 | 2 | 8 | Poland | Jakub Adamski, Remigiusz Olszewski, Karol Zalewski, Adam Pawłowski | 1:22.38 | q, SB |
| 7 | 3 | 7 | Bahamas | Deneko Brown, Andretti Bain, Alfred Higgs, Blake Bartlett | 1:22.86 | Q, SB |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | Barbados | Nicholas Deshong, Ramon Gittens, Levi Cadogan, Fallon Forde | 1:22.86 | SB |
| 9 | 2 | 4 | Turkey | Yavuz Can, Ramil Guliyev, Fatih Aktaş, Ali Ekber Kayaş | 1:23.55 | NR |
| 10 | 3 | 8 | Switzerland | Steven Gugerli, Pascal Mancini, Reto Schenkel, Suganthan Somasundaram | 1:24.55 | Q, NR |
| 11 | 2 | 7 | United States Virgin Islands | Tabarie Henry, Leslie Murray, David Walters, Leon Hunt | 1:25.31 | SB |
| | 1 | 2 | Antigua and Barbuda | Rai Benjamin, Daniel Bailey, Tahir Walsh, Miguel Francis | DNF | |
| | 1 | 4 | Cayman Islands | Kemar Hyman, Tyrell Cuffy, Gerome Bodden, Jamal Walton | DNF | |
| | 3 | 2 | Kenya | Mike Mokamba Nyang'Au, Carvin Nkanata, Collins Omae Gichana, Pius Muiya Musyoki | DQ | 170.7 |
| | 1 | 6 | Nigeria | Ejowvokoghene Oduduru, Nicholas Imhoaperamhe, Orukpe Eraiyokan, Robert Simmons | DQ | 170.7 |
| | 2 | 6 | China | Wu Zhiqiang, Mo Youxue, Yang Yang, Xie Zhenye | DQ | 170.7 |
| | 1 | 8 | Namibia | Jesse Urikhob, Hitjivirue Kaanjuka, Gilbert Hainuca, Adiel Van Wyk | DQ | 163.3 |
| | 3 | 5 | Canada | Gavin Smellie, Aaron Brown, Oluwasegun Makinde, Dontae Richards-Kwok | DQ | 170.6 |
| | 3 | 4 | Papua New Guinea | Theo Piniau, Kevin Kapmatana, Richard Dotaona, Paul Pokana | DQ | 170.18 |
| | 3 | 6 | Italy | | DNS | |
| | 3 | 3 | Trinidad and Tobago | | DNS | |

### Final

The final was started at 21:29.
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Jamaica | Nickel Ashmeade, Rasheed Dwyer, Jason Livermore, Warren Weir | 1:20.97 | |
| | 4 | France | Teddy Tinmar, Christophe Lemaitre, Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Ben Bassaw | 1:21.49 | |
| | 1 | Germany | Robin Erewa, Sven Knipphals, Aleixo-Platini Menga, Alexander Kosenkow | 1:22.65 | |
| 4 | 2 | Poland | Jakub Adamski, Remigiusz Olszewski, Kamil Masztak, Karol Zalewski | 1:22.85 | |
| 5 | 3 | Bahamas | Deneko Brown, Andretti Bain, Alfred Higgs, Blake Bartlett | 1:22.91 | |
| 6 | 7 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Antoine Adams, Lestrod Roland, Brijesh Lawrence, Allistar Clarke | 1:22.92 | |
| 7 | 8 | Switzerland | Steven Gugerli, Pascal Mancini, Reto Schenkel, Suganthan Somasundaram | 1:24.37 | NR |
| | 5 | United States | Wallace Spearmon, Isiah Young, Curtis Mitchell, Justin Gatlin | DQ | 170.7 |