# 2017 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the London Olympic Stadium on 12 August.

## Summary

The final race of the World Championships started fairly even, with USA's Wilbert London III and Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith gaining slightly on the stagger on the inside, while Spain's Óscar Husillos was gaining on Trinidad and Tobago's Jarrin Solomon further toward the outside. Belgium's Robin Vanderbemden also looked to be having a strong leg all alone in lane 9. Coming down the homestretch, London sped up to have the USA the handoff first to Gil Roberts. Roberts came around the turn to take a 3-metre lead at the break, followed by GBR's Rabah Yousif and Spain's Lucas Búa, TTO's Jereem Richards was on the outside passing people. Into the far turn, he had beaten Yousif and kept going making up the gap on Roberts getting to within a metre. Down the homestretch, Roberts again opened up the gap, handing off to Michael Cherry three metres ahead of Trinidad and Tobago's handoff to Machel Cedenio. Great Britain's handoff to Dwayne Cowan was just a metre back as the top three teams had separated from the rest of the contenders. Through most of the lap, Cherry held a five-metre lead while Cowan was challenging Cedenio. Cedenio held off Cowan then on the homestretch he separated, making a run at Cherry. USA passed to Fred Kerley barely a metre ahead of TTO's pass to Lalonde Gordon. Kerley was the anchor runner of the fastest 4x400 relay of the year prior to the championships, running for Texas A&M at the end of the college season more than two months earlier. Kerley held that one-metre lead down the backstretch, then widened it slightly through the final turn. Behind Gordon, GBR's Martyn Rooney was closing down the gap to bring his team to within a metre coming off the turn. Kerley straightened up and ran tight for the finish while Gordon went to the outside for running room and ran past him, pulling away to a decisive 3-metre victory. Kerley maintained his distance from Rooney to get silver for USA. GBR's Rooney finished 8 metres ahead of the Belgian team, which included three Borlée brothers.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Perf. | Team | Date | Location |
| World | 2:54.29 | United States Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, Michael Duane Johnson | 22 Aug 1993 | Stuttgart, Germany |
| Championship | 2:54.29 | United States Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, Michael Duane Johnson | 22 Aug 1993 | Stuttgart, Germany |
| World leading | 2:59.95 | Texas A&M University Richard Rose, My'Lik Kerley, Robert Grant, Fred Kerley | 7 Jun 2017 | Eugene, United States |
| African | 2:58.68 | Nigeria Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Sunday Bada, Enefiok Udo-Obong | 30 Sep 2000 | Sydney, Australia |
| Asian | 3:00.76 | Japan Shunji Karube, Koji Ito, Jun Osakada, Shigekazu Omori | 3 Aug 1996 | Atlanta, United States |
| NACAC | 2:54.29 | United States Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds, Michael Johnson | 22 Aug 1993 | Stuttgart, Germany |
| South American | 2:58.56 | Brazil Eronilde de Araújo, Cleverson da Silva, Claudinei da Silva, Sanderlei Parrela | 30 Jul 1999 | Winnipeg, Canada |
| European | 2:56.60 | Great Britain Iwan Thomas, Mark Richardson, Jamie Baulch, Roger Black | 3 Aug 1996 | Atlanta, United States |
| Oceanian | 2:59.70 | Australia Bruce Frayne, Gary Minihan, Rick Mitchell, Darren Clark | 11 Aug 1984 | Los Angeles, United States |
The following records were set at the competition:
| Record | Perf. | Team | Date |
| World leading | 2:58.12 | Trinidad and Tobago Jarrin Solomon, Jereem Richards, Machel Cedenio, Lalonde Gordon | 13 Aug 2017 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 2:58.12 | Trinidad and Tobago Jarrin Solomon, Jereem Richards, Machel Cedenio, Lalonde Gordon | 13 Aug 2017 |
| World leading | 2:59.23 | United States Wilbert London III, Bryshon Nellum, Michael Cherry, Tony McQuay | 12 Aug 2017 |
| Spanish | 3:00.65 | Spain Óscar Husillos, Lucas Búa, Darwin Echeverry, Samuel García | 13 Aug 2017 |

## Qualification criteria

The first eight placed teams at the 2017 IAAF World Relays and the host country qualify automatically for entry with remaining places being filled by teams with the fastest performances during the qualification period.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+1), is as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 12 August | 11:50 | Heats |
| 13 August | 21:15 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first round took place on 12 August in two heats as follows:
| Heat | 1 | 2 |
| Start time | 11:50 | 12:00 |
| Photo finish | link | link |
The first three in each heat ( Q ) and the next two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 9 | United States (USA) | Wilbert London III, Bryshon Nellum, Michael Cherry, Tony McQuay | 2:59.23 | Q, WL |
| 2 | 2 | 8 | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | Renny Quow, Jereem Richards, Machel Cedenio, Lalonde Gordon | 2:59.35 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | Belgium (BEL) | Dylan Borlée, Jonathan Borlée, Robin Vanderbemden, Kevin Borlée | 2:59.47 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 2 | 6 | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | Rabah Yousif, Dwayne Cowan, Jack Green, Martyn Rooney | 3:00.10 | q, SB |
| 5 | 2 | 4 | France (FRA) | Ludvy Vaillant, Thomas Jordier, Mamoudou Hanne, Teddy Atine-Venel | 3:00.93 | q, SB |
| 6 | 1 | 9 | Spain (ESP) | Óscar Husillos, Lucas Búa, Darwin Echeverry, Samuel García | 3:01.72 | Q, SB |
| 7 | 1 | 7 | Poland (POL) | Kajetan Duszyński, Łukasz Krawczuk, Tymoteusz Zimny, Rafał Omelko | 3:01.78 | Q, SB |
| 8 | 1 | 5 | Cuba (CUB) | William Collazo, Adrian Chacón, Leandro Zamora, Yoandys Lescay | 3:01.88 | Q, SB |
| 9 | 1 | 8 | Jamaica (JAM) | Peter Matthews, Steven Gayle, Jamari Rose, Rusheen McDonald | 3:01.98 | SB |
| 10 | 1 | 3 | India (IND) | Kunhu Muhammed, Amoj Jacob, Mohammad Anas, Arokia Rajiv | 3:02.80 | SB |
| 11 | 1 | 4 | Bahamas (BAH) | Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu, O'Jay Ferguson, Ramon Miller | 3:03.04 | SB |
| 12 | 1 | 2 | Colombia (COL) | Jhon Alexander Solís, Diego Palomeque, Yilmar Herrera, Jhon Perlaza | 3:03.68 | SB |
| 13 | 2 | 5 | Brazil (BRA) | Lucas Carvalho, Alexander Russo, Anderson Henriques, Hugo de Sousa | 3:04.02 | SB |
| 14 | 2 | 7 | Botswana (BOT) | Onkabetse Nkobolo, Baboloki Thebe, Nijel Amos, Karabo Sibanda | 3:06.50 | |
| 15 | 2 | 2 | Japan (JPN) | Kentaro Sato, Yuzo Kanemaru, Kazushi Kimura, Kosuke Horii | 3:07.29 | |
| 16 | 1 | 6 | Turkey (TUR) | Ahmet Kasap, Batuhan Altıntaş, Mahsum Korkmaz, Yavuz Can | 3:15.45 | |

### Final

The final took place on 13 August at 22:20. The results were as follows (photo finish):
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| | 7 | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | Jarrin Solomon, Jereem Richards, Machel Cedenio, Lalonde Gordon | 2:58.12 | WL, NR |
| | 4 | United States (USA) | Wilbert London III, Gil Roberts, Michael Cherry, Fred Kerley | 2:58.61 | SB |
| | 3 | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | Matthew Hudson-Smith, Rabah Yousif, Dwayne Cowan, Martyn Rooney | 2:59.00 | SB |
| 4 | 9 | Belgium (BEL) | Robin Vanderbemden, Jonathan Borlée, Dylan Borlée, Kevin Borlée | 3:00.04 | |
| 5 | 6 | Spain (ESP) | Óscar Husillos, Lucas Búa, Darwin Echeverry, Samuel García | 3:00.65 | NR |
| 6 | 8 | Cuba (CUB) | William Collazo, Adrian Chacón, Osmaidel Pellicier, Yoandys Lescay | 3:01.10 | SB |
| 7 | 5 | Poland (POL) | Kajetan Duszyński, Rafał Omelko, Łukasz Krawczuk, Tymoteusz Zimny | 3:01.59 | SB |
| DSQ | 2 | France (FRA) | Ludvy Vaillant, Thomas Jordier, Mamoudou Hanne, Teddy Atine-Venel | 3:01.79 | |