| Event: | Men's 4 x 100 metres relay |
| Competition: | European Athletics Championships |
The men's 4 x 100 metres relay at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 2 and 3 September 1978.
| Gold | Zenon Nowosz Zenon Licznerski Leszek Dunecki Marian Woronin  | |
| Silver | Manfred Kokot Eugen Ray Olaf Prenzler Alexander Thieme | |
| Bronze | Sergey Vladimirtsev Nikolay Kolesnikov Aleksandr Aksinin Vladimir Ignatenko |
3 September
| Rank | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | | 38.58 | CR | |||
| align=left | 38.78 | |||||
| align=left | 38.82 | |||||
| 4 | align=left |  | 38.90 | |||
| 5 | align=left |  | 39.11 | |||
| 6 | align=left |  | 39.49 | |||
| 7 | align=left | 39.56 | ||||
| 8 | align=left |  | 39.73 |
2 September
| Rank | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | | 39.20 | Q | ||
| 2 | align=left | | 39.51 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | 39.87 | Q | |||
| 4 | align=left | | 40.08 | Q | ||
| 5 | align=left | 40.43 |
| Rank | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | 39.05 | Q | |||
| 2 | align=left | 39.21 | Q | |||
| 3 | align=left | | 39.45 | Q | ||
| 4 | align=left | | 40.16 | Q | ||
| align=left | DNF |
According to an unofficial count, 40 athletes from 10 countries participated in the event.
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