# 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay

The men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics took place at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on August 21 and August 22. The two main contenders for the event were the reigning World Champions, the United States, and the reigning Olympic Champions, Jamaica. Jamaica held the world record at 37.10 (which was later rescinded), which was established at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, while the United States entered with the 2009 overall season-best 37.85.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Jamaica (JAM) Steve Mullings Michael Frater Usain Bolt Asafa Powell Dwight Thomas* Lerone Clarke* | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) Darrel Brown Marc Burns Emmanuel Callander Richard Thompson Keston Bledman* | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) Simeon Williamson Tyrone Edgar Marlon Devonish Harry Aikines-Aryeetey |
* Runners who participated in the heats only and received medals.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the following records were as follows.
| World record | United States (USA) Jon Drummond, Andre Cason, Dennis Mitchell, Leroy Burrell | 37.40 | Stuttgart, Germany | 21 August 1993 |
| Championship record | United States (USA) Jon Drummond, Andre Cason, Dennis Mitchell, Leroy Burrell | 37.40 | Stuttgart, Germany | 21 August 1993 |
| World Leading | Racers Track Club Daniel Bailey, Yohan Blake, Mario Forsythe, Usain Bolt | 37.46 | London, Great Britain | 25 July 2009 |
| African Record | Nigeria (NGR) Osmond Ezinwa, Olapade Adeniken, Francis Obikwelu, Davidson Ezinwa | 37.94 | Athens, Greece | 9 August 1997 |
| Asian Record | Japan (JPN) Naoki Tsukahara, Shingo Suetsugu, Shinji Takahira, Nobuharu Asahara | 38.03 | Osaka, Japan | 1 September 2007 |
| North American Record | United States (USA) Jon Drummond, Andre Cason, Dennis Mitchell, Leroy Burrell | 37.40 | Stuttgart, Germany | 21 August 1993 |
| South American record | Brazil (BRA) André da Silva, Claudinei da Silva, Vicente de Lima, Édson Ribeiro | 37.90 | Sydney, Australia | 30 September 2000 |
| European Record | Great Britain (GBR) Dwain Chambers, Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish | 37.73 | Seville, Spain | 29 August 1999 |
| Oceanian Record | Australia (AUS) Paul Henderson, Tim Jackson, Steve Brimacombe, Damien Marsh | 38.17 | Gothenburg, Sweden | 12 August 1995 |
No new world or championship record was set during this competition.

## Qualification standard

* Standard
* 39.10

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| August 21, 2009 | 19:30 | Heats |
| August 22, 2009 | 20:50 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualify.
| Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar, Marlon Devonish, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey | 38.11 | Q, SB |
| 2 | 1 | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Keston Bledman, Richard Thompson | 38.47 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Italy (ITA) | Roberto Donati, Simone Collio, Emanuele Di Gregorio, Fabio Cerutti | 38.52 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 1 | Japan (JPN) | Masashi Eriguchi, Naoki Tsukahara, Shinji Takahira, Kenji Fujimitsu | 38.53 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | France (FRA) | Ronald Pognon, Martial Mbandjock, Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Christophe Lemaitre | 38.59 | q, SB |
| 6 | 2 | Canada (CAN) | Hank Palmer, Oluseyi Smith, Jared Connaughton, Bryan Barnett | 38.60 | Q, SB |
| 6 | 3 | Jamaica (JAM) | Lerone Clarke, Michael Frater, Steve Mullings, Dwight Thomas | 38.60 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Brazil (BRA) | Vicente de Lima, Sandro Viana, Basílio de Moraes, José Carlos Moreira | 38.72 | q, SB |
| 9 | 3 | Australia (AUS) | Anthony Alozie, Josh Ross, Aaron Rouge-Serret, Matt Davies | 38.93 | SB |
| 10 | 2 | Netherlands (NED) | Gregory Sedoc, Caimin Douglas, Guus Hoogmoed, Patrick van Luijk | 38.95 | SB |
| 11 | 2 | Portugal (POR) | Dany Gonçalves, Arnaldo Abrantes, Ricardo Monteiro, Francis Obikwelu | 39.25 | |
| 12 | 1 | Switzerland (SUI) | Pascal Mancini, Marc Schneeberger, Reto Schenkel, Marco Cribari | 39.47 | |
| 13 | 2 | Ghana (GHA) | Nana Kofi Samm, Tanko Braimah, Seth Amoo, Aziz Zakari | 39.61 | SB |
| 14 | 1 | South Africa (RSA) | Hannes Dreyer, Leigh Julius, Thuso Mpuang, L. J. van Zyl | 39.71 | |
| 15 | 3 | Thailand (THA) | Apinan Sukaphai, Wachara Sondee, Suppachai Chimdee, Sittichai Suwonprateep | 39.73 | |
| | 2 | United States (USA) | Terrence Trammell, Michael Rodgers, Shawn Crawford, Darvis Patton | DQ | Illegal handover |
| | 3 | Germany (GER) | Tobias Unger, Marius Broening, Alexander Kosenkow, Martin Keller | DNF | |
| | 3 | Poland (POL) | Michał Bielczyk, Dariusz Kuć, Mikołaj Lewański, Robert Kubaczyk | DNS | |
Key: DNF = Did not finish, DNS = Did not start, DQ = Disqualified, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best

### Final

| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| | Jamaica (JAM) | Steve Mullings, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell | 37.31 | WR |
| | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Emmanuel Callander, Richard Thompson | 37.62 | NR |
| | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar, Marlon Devonish, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey | 38.02 | SB |
| 4 | Japan (JPN) | Masashi Eriguchi, Naoki Tsukahara, Shinji Takahira, Kenji Fujimitsu | 38.30 | SB |
| 5 | Canada (CAN) | Sam Effah, Oluseyi Smith, Jared Connaughton, Bryan Barnett | 38.39 | SB |
| 6 | Italy (ITA) | Roberto Donati, Simone Collio, Emanuele Di Gregorio, Fabio Cerutti | 38.54 | |
| 7 | Brazil (BRA) | Vicente de Lima, Sandro Viana, Basílio de Moraes, José Carlos Moreira | 38.56 | SB |
| 8 | France (FRA) | Ronald Pognon, Martial Mbandjock, Eddy De Lepine, Christophe Lemaitre | 39.21 | |
Key: CR = Championship record, NR = National record, SB = Seasonal best