These are the results of the Men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens, Greece.
The gold medal was originally won by the US team, but the team were retrospectively disqualified in 2009 after Antonio Pettigrew admitted to using human growth hormone and EPO between 1997 and 2003.
| width=200 valign=top | Iwan Thomas Roger Black Jamie Baulch Mark Richardson Mark Hylton | width=200 valign=top | Michael McDonald Gregory Haughton Danny McFarlane Davian Clarke Linval Laird | width=200 valign=top | Tomasz Czubak Piotr Rysiukiewicz Piotr Haczek Robert Maćkowiak |
* Runners who participated in the heats only and received medals.
Qualification: First 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2:59.91 | Q, NR | ||||
| 2 | 2:59.98 | Q, SB | ||||
| 1 | 3:00.19 | Q | ||||
| 2 | 3:00.19 | q, NR | ||||
| 3 | 3:00.19 | Q, NR | ||||
| 3 | 3:01.75 | q, SB | ||||
| 1 | 3:01.76 | Q, SB | ||||
| 1 | 3:02.95 | NR | ||||
| 2 | 3:03.35 | |||||
| 10 | 3 | 3:03.35 | SB | |||
| 11 | 1 | 3:04.19 | ||||
| 12 | 2 | 3:04.30 | NR | |||
| 13 | 1 | 3:05.22 | ||||
| 14 | 3 | 3:05.34 | SB | |||
| 15 | 1 | 3:05.34 | ||||
| 15 | 2 | 3:05.43 | NR | |||
| 16 | 3 | 3:05.65 | ||||
| 17 | 1 | 3:05.96 | NR | |||
| 3 |
| width=15 | Rank | width=100 | Nation | width=400 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iwan Thomas, Roger Black, Jamie Baulch, Mark Richardson | 2:56.65 | ||||||||
| Michael McDonald, Gregory Haughton, Danny McFarlane, Davian Clarke | 2:56.75 | NR | |||||||
| Tomasz Czubak, Piotr Rysiukiewicz, Piotr Haczek, Robert Maćkowiak | 3:00.26 | ||||||||
| 4 | Arnaud Malherbe, Hezekiel Sepeng, Hendrik Mokganyetsi, Llewellyn Herbert | 3:00.26 | NR | ||||||
| 5 | Jean-Louis Rapnouil, Marc Foucan, Fred Mango, Stephane Diagana | 3:01.07 | |||||||
| 6 | Tawanda Chiwira, Phillip Mukomana, Savieri Ngidhi, Ken Harnden | 3:01.43 | |||||||
| 7 | Ashraf Saber, Marco Vaccari, Andrea Nuti, Fabrizio Mori | 3:01.52 | |||||||
| DSQ | Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Chris Jones, Tyree Washington |