The men's
4 × 100 metres relay
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...
at the
2024 Summer Olympics
The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
was held in two rounds at the
Stade de France
Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France, on 8 and 9 August 2024. This was the 26th time that the men's 4 × 100 metres relay was contested at the
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
. A total of 16 teams were able to qualify for the event through the
2024 World Athletics Relays
The 2024 World Athletics Relays was held in Nassau, Bahamas on 4 and 5 May 2024.
Overview
The first 3 editions of the IAAF World Relays (former name) have been held in the same site: 2014 IAAF World Relays, 2015 IAAF World Relays and 2017 IAAF ...
or the World Athletics top list.
Summary
After the close finish in the 100 metres between reigning World Champion
Noah Lyles
Noah Lyles (born July 18, 1997) is an American track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 60 meters, 100 metres, 100 meters and 200 metres, 200 meters events. His personal best of 19.31 seconds in the 200 m is the List of Un ...
and seasonal World Leader
Kishane Thompson
Kishane Thompson (born 17 July 2001) is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes as a sprinter. He won the silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 100 metres event.
Career
A member of the MVP Track Club, Thompson competed at the ...
, which Lyles won by .005, there was excitement for the rematch on the anchor leg of the 4 × 100 relay. USA were the most successful Olympic 4 × 100 team overall, winning the event all but 5 of 20 Olympics between 1912 and 2000. Jamaica had more recent success, winning 3 times in a row during the
Usain Bolt
Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...
era, 2008-2016. This time, neither country was defending a medal, as Italy returned as the defending champion with one addition to their relay team, Canada as the silver medallists returning the same lineup, and China as the bronze after the disqualification of Tokyo 2020 second place finisher Great Britain. That was a repeat of USA's recent history of failures to live up to expectations in the 4 × 100. USA's 2016 "early" exchange was so egregious, a failure to execute rules every team has to adhere to from the junior level, that it caused a successful lobbying effort to make the technical rules for passing easier. Tracks all over the world had to be repainted to eliminate the acceleration zone leading to the beginning of the passing zone. Predictions expected USA to break their streak of futility with Jamaica and Italy as top contenders.
Things changed when Lyles finished third in the 200 metres, without his fast finish. After hugging his competitors, Lyles said he had been diagnosed with
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
two days earlier and that he was dropping out of the relay. With substitutes, USA was the top qualifying team out of the heats. Jamaica shockingly failed to make the final.
For the final, USA substituted
Kenny Bednarek
Kenneth Bednarek (born October 14, 1998) is an American track and field sprinter from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. He specializes in the 200-meter distance, having won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2022 World Championships, and at the 2 ...
onto the team for the final and completely changed the order. Great Britain, Italy and Japan made similar changes, while Canada, South Africa, China and France stuck with a well-practiced order.
With the best starter in the world, multiple World Indoor Champion
Christian Coleman
Christian Coleman (born March 6, 1996) is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He ...
(USA) blasted out of the blocks, making up a huge amount of the stagger on
Méba-Mickaël Zeze
Méba-Mickaël Zeze (born 19 May 1994) is a French sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. He won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Lille Métropole, France. Earlier that year, Zézé broke the Fr ...
(FRA) to his outside, while leaving
Jeremiah Azu
Jeremiah Azu (born 15 May 2001) is a Welsh sprinter. He is the 2025 European Indoor Champion and 2025 World Indoor Champion over 60 metres. In 2024, he became the first Welshman to run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds in wind-legal conditi ...
(GBR) behind. On the far outside,
Aaron Brown (CAN) was also pulling away from
Deng Zhijian
Deng Zhijian (; born March 5, 2002) is a Chinese sprinter.
Background
Deng was born in Jiangyou, Mianyang, Sichuan, China.
In October 2015, Deng was chosen to selected to join the provincial track and field team.
Deng won a bronze medal as pa ...
(CHN) while 18 year old
Bayanda Walaza (RSA) was gaining behind Deng. At the first exchange, USA's Bednarek almost came to a complete stop trying to complete the handoff, Great Britain's
Louie Hinchliffe
Louie Hinchliffe (born 18 July 2002) is a British sprinter. On 7 June 2024, he won the 2024 NCAA Championships 100 metres title with a time of 9.95 seconds for the University of Houston Cougars. That month, he also won the 100m title at the Br ...
whizzed by with Japan's star
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown
is a Japanese athlete specialising in sprinting events. Sani Brown has a Japanese mother and a Ghanaian father. Sani Brown won the 100 metres at the 2015 World Youth Championships in Athletics setting a championship record of 10.28 (−0.4) in ...
gaining.
Jerome Blake
Jerome Blake (born August 18, 1995) is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in the sprint events. As a member of the Canadian relay team, he is the 2024 Olympic gold medallist, 2020 Olympic silver medallist and the 2022 World cha ...
(CAN) continued to widen the gap on China's star
Xie Zhenye
Xie Zhenye (, born August 17, 1993) is a Chinese sprinter. He is the current Asian record holder of the 200 metres with a time of 19.88 seconds. In 2018, Xie ran a personal best of 9.97 seconds in the 100 metres, making him the second Chinese s ...
with South Africa's
Shaun Maswanganyi
Phatutshedzo “Shaun” Maswanganyi (born 1 February 2001) is a South African track and field athlete. He won silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics as part of South Africa's 4 x 100 metres relay team.
Personal life
Born in Soweto, he attended St A ...
gaining behind. Around the final turn, former World Junior Record holder
Yoshihide Kiryū
is a Japanese Sprint (running), sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres.
Born in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Kiryū played soccer, football while at elementary school and became interested in track and field at junior high school, as his brot ...
(JPN) zoomed past everybody, so as the teams evened out after the excellent underhand exchange to
Koki Ueyama, Japan was ahead. A fast turn on the inside by
Lorenzo Patta
Lorenzo Patta (born 23 May 2000) is an Italian sprinter who won a gold medal in relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
On 13 May 2021, running in Savona in 10.13, he established the 7th Italian all-time performance on 100 m and a ...
brought Italy about even with Canada's
Brendon Rodney
Brendon Rodney (born 9 April 1992) is a Canadian sprinter. As a member of the Canadian men's relay team, he is a three-time Olympic medallist in the 4 × 100 metres relay, taking gold in 2024, silver in 2020 and bronze in 2016. He is also the ...
. After the handoffs,
Akani Simbine
Akani Simbine (born 21 September 1993) is a South African Sprint (running), sprinter specialising in the 100 metres event. He was fifth at the Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics in the Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olymp ...
(RSA) and
Pablo Matéo
Pablo Matéo (born 1 February 2001) is a French sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres. He won a silver medal in the 4×100 m relay at the 2022 European Athletics Championships.
In May 2023, he successively improves his personal best ...
(FRA) were even, marginally ahead of
Zharnel Hughes
Zharnel Hughes (born 13 July 1995) is an Anguilla-born British Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, he has competed internationally for Great ...
(GBR) 3 metres down on Ueyama,
Filippo Tortu
Filippo Tortu (born 15 June 1998) is an Italian Sprint (running), sprinter. He was the first Italian to break the 10-second barrier and is the second fastest Italian in the 100 metres after Marcell Jacobs. He ran the anchor leg in the Athletics ...
(ITA) and six-time Olympic medalist
Andre De Grasse
Andre De Grasse (born 10 November 1994) is a Canadian Sprint (running), sprinter. A seven-time Olympic medallist, De Grasse is the 2020 Olympic champion in the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres, 200 m, and also won the ...
(CAN). De Grasse and Tortu quickly picked off Ueyama but down the stretch Simbine and Hughes were closing fast, passing Ueyama metres out and Tortu less than 20. Simbine maintained the slight edge on Hughes to give South Africa the silver over Great Britain's bronze, but not enough to catch De Grasse for gold. The vaunted American squad crossed the line in seventh only to learn that they had been disqualified. Bednarek had left way too early, then tried to stop and the exchange from Coleman was out of the passing zone.
It was a seventh Olympic medal for De Grasse and a new African Record for the South African squad. Canada's gold was their third Olympic medal in a row, after bronze in 2016 and silver in 2020.
Background
The
4 × 100 metres relay
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...
at the
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
is the shortest
track relay Track or Tracks may refer to:
Routes or imprints
* Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity
* Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across
* Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
event held at the
multi-sport event
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...
. The men's relay has been present on the
Olympic athletics programme since
1912
This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15.
In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...
.
Qualification
For the men's 4 × 100 metres relay event, fourteen teams qualified through the
2024 World Athletics Relays
The 2024 World Athletics Relays was held in Nassau, Bahamas on 4 and 5 May 2024.
Overview
The first 3 editions of the IAAF World Relays (former name) have been held in the same site: 2014 IAAF World Relays, 2015 IAAF World Relays and 2017 IAAF ...
. The remaining two spots were awarded to the teams with the highest ranking on the World Athletics Top List. The qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.
[Sean McAlister,]
How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained
, '' Olympics.com'', 20 December 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
Results
Round 1
Round 1 was held on 8 August, starting at 11:35 (UTC+2) in the morning.
[Paris 2024 - Olympic Schedule - Athletics]
, '' Olympics.com''. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
Heat 1
Heat 2
Final
The final was held on 9 August, starting at 19:45 (UTC+2) in the evening.
References
{{Olympic champions 4 × 100 metres men
Men's 4 x 100 metres relay
Men's events at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympics 2024