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

The Women's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on 4 September.
Runners from the United States had provided the fastest times before the competition, but bad baton exchanges had seen their teams disqualified at both the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Championships. The Americans and Jamaica, the defending world relay champions, were seen as the primary contenders for the title. Ukraine and Russia (the Olympic title holder) were the next fastest entrants into the championships.
The first semi-final was won by a ragged looking Jamaican team. France followed Jamaica into the final. In third place, Brazil set the South American record and qualified for the final by time. China false started out of the event. The second semi-final was won by Trinidad and Tobago, setting their national record, with Ukraine following them into the final. Russia also qualified on time. In the third semi-final, the USA, running in lane 2 ran the world leader to qualify, along with Nigeria. In lane 3, Bahamas' Anthonique Strachan fell as the modern version of the golden girls tried to qualify. Bahamas eventually finished while Germany was unable to complete their first handoff.
In the final, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce put Jamaica into the lead, but strong legs from Allyson Felix and Marshevet Myers brought the United States back into contention. Despite their recent history of poor handoffs, the United States executed their final baton exchange perfectly, gaining a couple of metres on Jamaica. Given the lead, Carmelita Jeter was able to hold off a closing Veronica Campbell-Brown for the win. Jamaica set their national record in second. Ukraine's Hrystyna Stuy in lane 8 ran down France and Trinidad and Tobago to finish a distant third.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| United States (USA) Bianca Knight Allyson Felix Marshevet Myers Carmelita Jeter Shalonda Solomon* Alexandria Anderson* | Jamaica (JAM) Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Kerron Stewart Sherone Simpson Veronica Campbell-Brown Jura Levy* | Ukraine (UKR) Olesya Povh Nataliya Pohrebnyak Mariya Ryemyen Hrystyna Stuy |

## Records

| World record | East Germany (Silke Gladisch-Möller, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald-Lange, Marlies Göhr) | 41.37 | Canberra, Australia | 6 October 1985 |
| Championship record | United States (Chryste Gaines, Marion Jones, Inger Miller, Gail Devers) | 41.47 | Athens, Greece | 9 August 1997 |
| World leading | United States Red (Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers, Carmelita Jeter) | 42.28 | Philadelphia, PA, United States | 5 August 2011 |
| African record | Nigeria (Beatrice Utondu, Faith Idehen, Christy Opara-Thompson, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi) | 42.39 | Barcelona, Spain | 7 August 1992 |
| Asian record | China (Lin Xiao, Yali Li, Xiaomei Liu, Li Xuemei) | 42.23 | Shanghai, China | 23 October 1997 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | United States (Chryste Gaines, Marion Jones, Inger Miller, Gail Devers) | 41.47 | Athens, Greece | 9 August 1997 |
| South American record | Brazil (Lucimar Aparecida de Moura, Katia Regina Santos, Luciana dos Santos, Rosemar Maria Neto) | 42.97 | Bogotá, Colombia | 10 July 2004 |
| European record | East Germany (Silke Gladisch-Möller, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald-Lange, Marlies Göhr) | 41.37 | Canberra, Australia | 6 October 1985 |
| Oceanian record | Australia (Rachael Massey, Suzanne Broadrick, Jodi Lambert, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor) | 42.99 | Pietersburg, South Africa | 18 March 2000 |

## Qualification standards

| A time | B time |
| 44.00 ||

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 4 September 2011 | 18:30 | Heats |
| 4 September 2011 | 20:35 | 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 | 3 | United States (USA) | Bianca Knight, Shalonda Solomon, Marshevet Myers, Alexandria Anderson | 41.94 | Q, WL |
| 2 | 1 | Jamaica (JAM) | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kerron Stewart, Sherone Simpson, Jura Levy | 42.23 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 1 | France (FRA) | Myriam Soumaré, Céline Distel, Lina Jacques-Sébastien, Véronique Mang | 42.60 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 2 | Ukraine (UKR) | Olesya Povh, Nataliya Pohrebnyak, Mariya Ryemyen, Hrystyna Stuy | 42.63 | Q, SB |
| 5 | 3 | Nigeria (NGR) | Gloria Asumnu, Oludamola Osayomi, Agnes Osazuwa, Blessing Okagbare | 42.74 | Q, SB |
| 6 | 2 | Russia (RUS) | Yuliya Gushchina, Natalia Rusakova, Elizabeta Savlinis, Aleksandra Fedoriva | 42.78 | q, SB |
| 7 | 1 | Brazil (BRA) | Ana Cláudia Lemos Silva, Vanda Gomes, Franciela Krasucki, Rosângela Santos | 42.92 | q, AR |
| 8 | 3 | Netherlands (NED) | Kadene Vassell, Dafne Schippers, Anouk Hagen, Jamile Samuel | 43.44 | NR |
| 9 | 1 | Colombia (COL) | Yomara Hinestroza, Maria Alejandra Idrobo, Darlenys Obregón, Norma González | 43.53 | SB |
| 10 | 2 | Australia (AUS) | Hayley Butler, Melissa Breen, Charlotte van Veenendaal, Sally Pearson | 43.79 | |
| 11 | 1 | Japan (JPN) | Nao Okabe, Momoko Takahashi, Chisato Fukushima, Saori Imai | 43.83 | |
| 12 | 2 | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | Tiffany Porter, Anyika Onuora, Laura Turner, Jeanette Kwakye | 43.95 | |
| 13 | 3 | Switzerland (SUI) | Clélia Reuse, Jacqueline Gasser, Ellen Sprunger, Léa Sprunger | 44.04 | |
| 14 | 3 | Belarus (BLR) | Anna Bagdanovich, Yuliya Balykina, Alena Neumiarzhitskaya, Hanna Liapeshka | 44.38 | |
| 15 | 2 | South Korea (KOR) | Eum Jeesu, Kim So-yeon, Lee Sunae, Park So-Yeun | 46.14 | SB |
| 16 | 1 | Spain (ESP) | Plácida Martínez, Amparo Cotán, Concepción Montaner, Ruth Beitia | 46.24 | |
| 17 | 3 | Bahamas (BAH) | Sheniqua Ferguson, Nivea Smith, Anthonique Strachan, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie | 50.62 | |
| | 3 | Germany (GER) | Yasmin Kwadwo, Anne Möllinger, Cathleen Tschirch, Marion Wagner | DNF | |
| | 2 | Poland (POL) | Anna Kiełbasińska, Marika Popowicz, Marta Jeschke, Agnieszka Ligięza | DNF | |
| | 1 | China (CHN) | Wei Yongli, Liang Qiuping, Jiang Lan, Tao Yujia | DSQ | FS |
| | 2 | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | Kai Selvon, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, Michelle-Lee Ahye | DQ | Semoy Hackett's Drug Test |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | United States (USA) | Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers, Carmelita Jeter | 41.56 | WL |
| | 6 | Jamaica (JAM) | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kerron Stewart, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell-Brown | 41.70 | NR |
| | 8 | Ukraine (UKR) | Olesya Povh, Nataliya Pohrebnyak, Mariya Ryemyen, Hrystyna Stuy | 42.51 | SB |
| 4 | 5 | France (FRA) | Myriam Soumaré, Céline Distel, Lina Jacques-Sébastien, Véronique Mang | 42.70 | |
| 5 | 1 | Russia (RUS) | Yuliya Gushchina, Natalia Rusakova, Elizabeta Savlinis, Aleksandra Fedoriva | 42.93 | |
| 6 | 7 | Nigeria (NGR) | Gloria Asumnu, Oludamola Osayomi, Agnes Osazuwa, Blessing Okagbare | 42.93 | |
| 7 | 2 | Brazil (BRA) | Ana Cláudia Lemos Silva, Vanda Gomes, Franciela Krasucki, Rosângela Santos | 43.10 | |
| | 3 | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | Kai Selvon, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, Michelle-Lee Ahye | (42.58) | Semoy Hackett's Drug Test |