The women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships will be held at the Ataköy Athletics Arena on 11 March 2012. Perri Shakes-Drayton held off individual champion Sanya Richards-Ross to claim Great Britain's first-ever medal in this event. Ukraine originally finished fourth, but were later disqualified as their first leg runner (Bryzhina) inadvertently knocked Hanna Tashpulatava (Belarus) to the ground.
The winning margin was 0.03 seconds which as of July 2024 remains the only time the women's 4x400 metres relay was won by less than a tenth of a second at these championships.
| width=200 bgcolor=gold | Gold | width=200 bgcolor=silver | Silver | width=200 bgcolor=CC9966 | Bronze |
Shana Cox Nicola Sanders Christine Ohuruogu Perri Shakes-Drayton | Leslie Cole Natasha Hastings Jernail Hayes Sanya Richards-Ross | Angela Moroșanu Alina Panainte Adelina Pastor Elena Mirela Lavric |
| Standing records prior to the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World record | 3:23.37 | Glasgow, Great Britain | 28 January 2006 | ||
| Championship record | 3:23.88 | Budapest, Hungary | 7 March 2004 | ||
| World Leading | University of Kansas | 3:31.36 | College Station, United States | 25 February 2012 | |
| Asian record | 3:37.46 | Doha, Qatar | 16 February 2008 | ||
| European record | 3:23.37 | Glasgow, Great Britain | 28 January 2006 | ||
| North and Central American and Caribbean record | 3:27.34 | Doha, Qatar | 14 March 2010 | ||
| Oceanian Record | 3:26.87 | Maebashi, Japan | 7 March 1999 | ||
Started at 16:40.[1]
| Rank | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:28.76 | WL | ||||
| 3:28.79 | SB | ||||
| 3:33.41 | SB | ||||
| 4 | 3:33.73 | SB | |||
| R 163.3 | |||||
| Yuliya Gushchina, Kseniya Ustalova, Marina Karnaushchenko, Aleksandra Fedoriva | DQ |