2015 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay explained

Event:Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
Competition:2015 World Championships
Venue:Beijing National Stadium
Dates:29 August (heats)
30 August (final)
Competitors:70
Nations:16
Win Value:2:57.82
Gold:David Verburg
Tony McQuay
Bryshon Nellum
LaShawn Merritt
Kyle Clemons
Goldnoc:USA
Silver:Renny Quow
Lalonde Gordon
Deon Lendore
Machel Cedenio
Jarrin Solomon
Silvernoc:TRI
Bronze:Rabah Yousif
Delano Williams
Jarryd Dunn
Martyn Rooney
Bronzenoc:GBR
Prev:2013
Next:2017

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 29 and 30 August.[1] [2]

Summary

During the heats, the United States and Trinidad and Tobago showed they were teams to be reckoned with. Botswana showed immense raw talent but in severe need of coaching in the finesse of running competitive relays. Elite American high school teams like Long Beach Poly, where Bryshon Nellum attended, would have been taught how to deal with handoff traffic and Botswana should have qualified.

In the finals, the first legs between Trinidad and Tobago (Renny Quow), Great Britain (Rabah Yousif) and USA (David Verburg) were relatively close, exchanging in that order. France, Belgium and Jamaica were all close in the mix. American Tony McQuay sped around the turn before the break and got enough of a lead to shut the door on the other teams, gaining a couple of metres as they dropped back to regroup and try to pass. Lalonde Gordon was able to put T&T slightly ahead at the handoff with a gap back to Great Britain and France, with Jamaica a few steps further behind. Down the backstretch Rusheen McDonald brought Jamaica around into third. As he paid for his efforts on the home stretch, he served as a blockade for Britain and France, Kevin Borlée brought Belgium around the outside into third by the handoff. On the front, Deon Lendore, chased by Nellum stayed relatively even, with 400 finalist Machel Cedenio taking the baton ahead of 400 silver medalist LaShawn Merritt. Merritt fell in behind Cedenio, who he had beaten by a second and a half four days earlier, to strategically prepare for a final pass. Javon Francis brought Jamaica all the way from fifth place to sprinting past the lead duo on the backstretch. Merritt went around Cedenio and started moving in on Francis for that final move. Coming onto the home stretch, Merritt executed his best move on Francis leaving him behind while Martyn Rooney was edging up on Cedenio. Francis, paying for his early speed, began to look like slow motion while everybody else was in real time. Merritt went on to victory, Cedenio separated from Rooney and sped past Francis for silver, and just at the line, Rooney was able to dip past Francis for bronze so close it took the photo finish readers a minute to determine.[3]

Records

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:[4]

World record United States
(Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds, Michael Johnson)
2:54.29Stuttgart, Germany22 August 1993
Championship record
World Leading United States
(David Verburg, Tony McQuay, Jeremy Wariner, LaShawn Merritt)
2:58.43 Nassau, Bahamas3 May 2015
African Record Nigeria
(Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Sunday Bada, Enefiok Udo-Obong)
2:58.68Sydney, Australia30 September 2000
Asian Record Japan
(Shunji Karube, Koji Ito, Jun Osakada, Shigekazu Omori)
3:00.76Atlanta, GA, United States3 August 1996
North, Central American and Caribbean record United States
(Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds, Michael Johnson)
2:54.29Stuttgart, Germany22 August 1993
South American Record Brazil
(Eronilde de Araújo, Cleverson da Silva, Claudinei da Silva, Sanderlei Parrela)
2:58.56Winnipeg, Canada30 July 1999
European Record
(Iwan Thomas, Mark Richardson, Jamie Baulch, Roger Black)
2:56.60Atlanta, GA, United States3 August 1996
Oceanian record Australia
(Bruce Frayne, Gary Minihan, Rick Mitchell, Darren Clark)
2:59.70Los Angeles, CA, United States11 August 1984
The following records were established during the competition:
World Leading United States
(Kyle Clemons, Tony McQuay, Bryshon Nellum, Vernon Norwood)
2:58.13Beijing, China29 August 2015
World Leading United States
(David Verburg, Tony McQuay, Bryshon Nellum, LaShawn Merritt)
2:57.82Beijing, China30 August 2015

Schedule

DateTimeRound
29 August 2015 10:40 Heats
30 August 2015 20:25 Final

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) advance to the final.[5]

Rank Heat Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes
1 2 6 2:58.13 ,
2 2 2 2:58.67 ,
3 2 8 2:58.69 ,
4 1 8 2:59.05 ,
5 1 2 2:59.28 ,
6 1 7 Mame-Ibra Anne, Teddy Atine-Venel, Mamoudou Hanne, Thomas Jordier2:59.42 ,
7 1 3 Artem Denmukhametov, Pavel Trenikhin, Denis Kudryavtsev, Pavel Ivashko2:59.45 ,
8 2 7 2:59.80 ,
9 2 3 2:59.95
10 2 5 3:00.15
11 1 9 3:00.72
12 2 4 3:01.05
13 2 9 3:01.26
14 1 5 3:02.96
15 1 4 Tomoya Tamura, Yuzo Kanemaru, Naoki Kobayashi, Takamasa Kitagawa3:02.97
1 6 R163.3a

Final

The final was held at 20:25[6]

Rank Lane Nation Athletes Time Notes
7 2:57.82
4 2:58.20
6 2:58.51
4 9 2:58.51
5 5 3:00.24
6 8 3:00.65
7 3 3:03.05
8 2 3:03.05

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Beijing 2015: Timetable . https://web.archive.org/web/20141201205133/http://www.iaafbeijing2015.com/special/iaaf_sch_en/ . dead . 1 December 2014 . 11 August 2015 . 10 August 2015 . Beijing 2015 .
  2. http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/4875/AT-4X4-M-h----.SL2.pdf Start list
  3. Web site: REPORT: MEN'S 4X400M FINAL – IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BEIJING 2015. 30 August 2015. iaaf.org. 2 September 2015.
  4. Web site: Records & Lists – 4x400 metres relay. IAAF. 18 August 2015.
  5. http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/4875/AT-4X4-M-h----.RS4.pdf Heats results
  6. http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/4875/AT-4X4-M-f----.RS6.pdf Final results