The men's

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

at the

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japane ...

was held at the London

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

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 Matthew Hudson-Smith (born 26 October 1994) is a British track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He holds, as of July 2022, the British record, running a personal best of 44.35 seconds for the distance set at Eugene, Oregon ...

gaining slightly on the stagger on the inside, while Spain's

Óscar Husillos Óscar Husillos Domingo (born 18 July 1993) is a Spanish sprinter specialising in the 200 and 400 metres. He won the gold medal in the 400 m at the 2021 European Indoor Championships and a silver at the 2019 European Indoor Championship ...

was gaining on Trinidad and Tobago's

Jarrin Solomon Jarrin Solomon (born 11 January 1986) is a Trinidadian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2012 IAAF World ...

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 Gil Roberts (born March 15, 1989) is an American athlete who specializes in the 200 m and 400 m. He competed for Texas Tech under coach Wes Kittley at the NCAA level. He was a member of the USA team that won the gold medal in the Men's 4×400 ...

. Roberts came around the turn to take a 3-metre lead at the break, followed by GBR's

Rabah Yousif Rabah Mahhamed Yousif Bkheit ( Arabic:رباح يوسف)(born 11 December 1986) is a Sudanese-born British track and field athlete, who initially competed for Sudan before obtaining British citizenship. Early life and British asylum Yousif is t ...

and Spain's Lucas Búa, TTO's

Jereem Richards Jereem Richards (born 13 January 1994) is a Trinidadian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres and 400 metres events. Richards is from Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago, and attended the University of Alabama. He was part of t ...

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 Machel Cedenio (born 6 September 1995) is a Trinidadian sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. He represented his country at two outdoor and one indoor World Championships winning a silver medal in the relay at the 2015 outdoor edition. He comp ...

. Great Britain's handoff to

Dwayne Cowan Dwayne Cowan (born 1 January 1985) is an English sprinter, based in Merton and a member of Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club. Before taking up sprinting, Dwayne was a semi-professional footballer. He made his international debut at the 2017 Eur ...

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 Fredrick Lee Kerley (born May 7, 1995) is an American track and field sprinter known primarily for competing in the 400 meters distance but more recently the 100 meters and 200 meters. He has earned several medals at the World Championships in ...

barely a metre ahead of TTO's pass to

Lalonde Gordon Lalonde Keida Gordon, HBM (born 25 November 1988) is a Tobagonian male track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a personal best of 44.52 seconds. He is the third faste ...

. Kerley was the anchor runner of the fastest 4x400 relay of the year prior to the championships, running for

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

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 Martyn Joseph Rooney (born 3 April 1987) is an English Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4×400 metres relay. A mainstay on the a ...

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: The following records were set at the competition:

Qualification criteria

The first eight placed teams at the

2017 IAAF World Relays The 2017 IAAF World Relays is the third edition of the biennial, global track and field relay competition between nations. It was held April 22–23, 2017, in Nassau, Bahamas. The distance medley relay The distance medley relay (DMR) is an athlet ...

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:

Results

Heats

The first round took place on 12 August in two heats as follows: The first three in each heat ( Q ) and the next two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:

Final

The final took place on 13 August at 22:20. The results were as follows
photo finish
:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017 World Championships in Athletics - Men's 4 x 400 metres relay

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

Relays at the World Athletics Championships