2010 European Athletics Championships – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay explained

Event:	Men's 4 x 100 metres relay
Competition:	European Athletics Championships

The men's 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 31 July and 1 August.

Shortly after heat 2, it seemed that three teams (France, Poland and Switzerland) would qualify from heat 1, and five teams (Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Spain) from heat 2, including Italy that finished second. However, it was announced that Italian team was disqualified, and subsequently Finnish team qualified from heat 1 to final. Later on, Italy made successful protest against Russia, so that Russia was disqualified and Italy proceeded to final.

Medalists

Gold	Christophe Lemaitre, Jimmy Vicaut, Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Martial Mbandjock France (FRA)
Silver	Roberto Donati, Simone Collio, Emanuele di Gregorio, Maurizio Checcucci Italy (ITA)
Bronze	Tobias Unger, Marius Broening, Alexander Kosenkow, Martin Keller Germany (GER)

Records

Standing records prior to the 2010 European Athletics Championships
World record	Nesta Carter, Michael Frater Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell	37.10	Beijing, China	22 August 2008
European record	Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell Marlon Devonish, Dwain Chambers	37.73	Seville, Spain	29 August 1999
Championship record	Max Moriniere, Daniel Sangouma Jean-Charles Trouabal, Bruno Marie-Rose	37.79	Split, Yugoslavia	1 September 1990
World Leading	Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake Marvin Anderson, Usain Bolt	37.90		24 April 2010
European Leading	Ronald Pognon, Christophe Lemaitre Yannick Lesourd, Martial Mbandjock	38.50	Rome, Italy	10 June 2010
Broken records during the 2010 European Athletics Championships
European Leading	Jimmy Vicaut, Christophe Lemaitre Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Martial Mbandjock	38.11	Barcelona, Spain	1 August 2010

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
31 July 2010	10:15	Round 1
1 August 2010	19:35	Final

Results

Round 1

First 3 in each heat (Q) and 2 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Nation	Athletes	React	Time	Notes
1	3		Imaad Hallay, Jimmy Vicaut, Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Martial Mbandjock	0.168	39.12	Q
2	4			0.173	39.20	Q
3	7			0.172	39.22	Q
4	6			0.143	39.40	q
5	5			0.180	39.49
6	8			0.162	40.04
7	2			0.254	40.23

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Nation	Athletes	React	Time	Notes
1	6			0.174	38.75	Q
2	3		Roberto Donati, Simone Collio, Emanuele di Gregorio, Maurizio Checcucci	0.199	38.82	Q
3	4			0.201	39.09	Q
4	7			0.230	39.30	q
	2			0.173
	5		Jan Žumer, Matic Osovnikar, Boštjan Fridrih, Gregor Kokalovič	0.165

Summary

Rank	Heat	Lane	Nation	Athletes	React	Time	Notes
1	2	6			0.174	38.75	Q
2	2	3		Roberto Donati, Simone Collio, Emanuele di Gregorio, Maurizio Checcucci	0.199	38.82	Q
3	2	4			0.201	39.09	Q
4	1	3		Imaad Hallay, Jimmy Vicaut, Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Martial Mbandjock	0.168	39.12	Q
5	1	4			0.173	39.20	Q
6	1	7			0.172	39.22	Q
7	2	7			0.230	39.30	q
8	1	6			0.143	39.40	q
9	1	5			0.180	39.49
10	1	8			0.162	40.04
11	1	2			0.254	40.23
	2	2			0.173
	2	5		Jan Žumer, Matic Osovnikar, Boštjan Fridrih, Gregor Kokalovič	0.165

Final

Rank	Lane	Nationality	Athlete	React	Time	Notes
	3		Jimmy Vicaut, Christophe Lemaitre, Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux, Martial Mbandjock	0.275	38.11	EL
	7		Roberto Donati, Simone Collio, Emanuele di Gregorio, Maurizio Checcucci	0.241	38.17	NR
	5			0.184	38.44
	8			0.162	38.69	NR
	4			0.189	38.83
	6			0.218	38.88	NR
	1			0.149	39.29	NR
	2			0.149

References

• Round 1 Results
• Final Results
• Full results