The women'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

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

was held at the

Khalifa International Stadium Khalifa International Stadium (, , ) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Al Rayyan, Qatar, around west from the centre of Doha. Its ground comprises a running track and a grass pitch. Opened in 1976, the stadium was named after then-Emir of ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, Qatar, from 5 to 6 October 2019. In the final the Jamaican team were initially disqualified, but were reinstated as the bronze medallists upon appeal.

Summary

Most events during the year do not see this level of talent. These are the all star teams of each of these countries. Even the

IAAF World Relays The World Athletics Relays, known as the ''IAAF World Relays'' until 2019, is an international biennial track and field sporting event held by World Athletics where teams from around the world compete in relay races, some of which are not part of ...

don't always assemble the very best. So in heat 1, Jamaica ran the world leading time. In heat 2, USA bettered it setting up a good final. Like the mixed relay, USA was able to assemble a new team of four fresh athletes. Phyllis Francis led off taking an early lead, making up the 3-turn stagger distance and passing both teams, Canada and Ukraine to her outside early into the final turn. Poland's lone fresh athlete Iga Baumgart-Witan and Jamaica's

Anastasia Le-Roy Anastasia Le-Roy (born 11 September 1987) is a Jamaican track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a ...

held relatively close to the stagger, passing just three step and five steps behind. GBR's

Zoey Clark Zoey Clark (born 25 October 1994) is a British sprinter. She competed in the women's 400 metres and was part of the British 4 × 400 relay team that won the silver medal at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. Since then she has won two i ...

and Belgium's Hanne Claes kept them in the mix after one leg. Second leg for USA was their young hurdling star

Sydney McLaughlin Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (, born August 7, 1999) is an American hurdler and sprinter who competes in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record, and 2022 World champion with a world record time of 50 ...

. She was so far ahead at the break, there was no need for strategic maneuvering, and she ran a perfect tangent from lane 7 to the beginning of the far turn taking a 5-metre lead on Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz with Britain's

Jodie Williams Jodie Alicia Williams (born 28 September 1993) is a British sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres, having begun her career concentrating on 100 and 200 metres. A prodigious junior, she is the 2009 World Youth Champion at 100 and 200 m, ...

close behind. McLaughlin built up a 9-metre lead by her handoff to the hurdle world record holder

Dalilah Muhammad Dalilah Muhammad (born February 7, 1990) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2016 Rio Olympics champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, becoming at the latter the second-fastest ...

, who true to form from her hurdle race, took off hard, expanding the gap to 15 metres through the first turn. It was almost 20 metres over Poland's Małgorzata Hołub-Kowalik by the handoff, which behind her, Jamaica's Stephenie Ann McPherson was able to pull back lost ground against Britain's fresh

Emily Diamond Emily Diamond (born 11 June 1991 in Bristol) is a British track and field athlete, who competes in the 200 metres and 400 metres. Diamond came to prominence in her breakout season of 2016 when, following her first win at the British Championshi ...

. On anchor USA put 400 meter 4th place Wadeline Jonathas, Jamaica had their rested bronze medalist

Shericka Jackson Shericka Jackson, OD (born 16 July 1994) is a Jamaican Sprint (running), sprinter competing in the 100 metres, 100 m, 200 metres, 200 m, and 400 metres, 400 metres. She is the fastest woman alive and second fastest woman of all time in ...

while Poland also had their best finalist, 7th place

Justyna Święty-Ersetic Justyna Święty-Ersetic (; born 3 December 1992) is a Polish sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. She was the 2018 European champion and a two-time European Indoor Championship medallist in this event. Święty-Ersetic won many medals ...

, but with that lead, the battle was for silver. Tightening the gap through the turn, Jackson ran by GBR's

Laviai Nielsen Laviai Nielsen (born 13 March 1996) is a British Sprint (running), sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. She won several medals as a member of the Great Britain 4 × 400 metres relay, 4x400 metres relay teams, including silver at the 2017 Worl ...

and Święty-Ersetic on the backstretch. With Jonathas long gone over 20 metres ahead, Święty-Ersetic stayed on Jackson's shoulder through the final turn then pulled into lane 2 for running room. She couldn't sprint by Jackson, but Święty-Ersetic slowly narrowed the gap. Just before Jonathas crossed the finish line, Święty-Ersetic edged back ahead. Unable to respond, Jackson gave up the fight and eased across the finish line with bronze 3 metres behind. Aided by legs of 49.51 by Francis, 49.78 by McLaughlin, 49.43 by Muhammad and 50.20 by Jonathas, USA ran the #18 time in history.

Allyson Felix Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 me ...

ran a 49.8 leg in the preliminary round and received a gold medal. It added to her record totals, now of 13 gold and 18 total medals at the World Championships.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows: The following records were matched or set at the competition:

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:

Results

Heats

The first three in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Final

The final was started on 6 October at 21:19.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019 World Athletics Championships - Women's 4 x 400 metres relay 4 x 400 metres relay Relays at the World Athletics Championships