2019 World Athletics Championships – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay explained

Event:	Women's 4 × 100 metres relay
Competition:	2019 World Championships
Venue:	Khalifa International Stadium
Dates:	4 October (heats) 5 October (final)
Competitors:	67
Nations:	16
Teams:	16
Win Value:	41.44
Gold:	Natalliah Whyte Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Jonielle Smith Shericka Jackson Natasha Morrison
Goldnoc:	JAM
Silver:	Asha Philip Dina Asher-Smith Ashleigh Nelson Daryll Neita Imani-Lara Lansiquot
Silvernoc:	GBR
Bronze:	Dezerea Bryant Teahna Daniels Morolake Akinosun Kiara Parker
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	2017
Next:	2022

The women's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 4 to 5 October 2019.^[1]

Summary

Already the world leader from their qualifying heat, Jamaica added a fresh Shericka Jackson to anchor. The British team brought in their star Dina Asher-Smith to run the second leg (completing an Asha, Asher-Smith, Ashleigh alliterative combination). Uncharacteristically, USA ran the same four runners.

On the first leg of the final, Natalliah Whyte got Jamaica into the lead passing to their star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce first. Against Asher-Smith, two lanes to her outside and USA's Teahna Daniels three lanes out, Fraser-Pryce appeared to gain slightly against the stagger. Already passed one lane outside of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago's Kelly-Ann Baptiste was left far behind, more indicative of the damage Fraser-Pryce inflicted on the competition. She handed off efficiently to Jonielle Smith. Through the turn, Jamaica had the lead, USA's Morolake Akinosun and GBR's Ashleigh Nelson battling for second with Mujinga Kambundji bringing the Swiss team into contention, chased by China. Jamaica's pass to Jackson had a slight hesitation but they left the zone with a 3 metre lead. GBR entered the final zone side by side with USA. GBR's stick, passing to Daryll Neita, never stopped moving. Comparatively, USA ran up onto Kiara Parker. In all GBR gained a metre and a half coming out of the zone with Switzerland's pass to Salomé Kora keeping pace. Jackson held Jamaica's lead across the finish line with Neita running a strong leg to keep the pressure on. Parker was unable to make any gain, but USA held off a fast closing Switzerland for bronze.

China's final pass from Kong Lingwei to Ge Manqi was disastrous. While being competitive for a bronze medal in the World Championships, they were unable to complete the pass within the 30 metre zone. Two metres after the zone, Ge stopped with both athletes holding the baton. Ge released it and both athletes ran back into the zone, hesitated in the middle for a moment, then on to just outside the beginning of the (previous rules) zone. Kong then tried to step forward to pass the baton, but she passed Ge standing in a statuesque position to receive the baton. Ge refused to take it. Kong then stepped behind Ge, handed her the baton and Ge took off running some 20 seconds after Jackson had crossed the finish line. Because the baton pass did not adhere to the rules, China was disqualified.

Jamaica's winning time 41.44 was the eighth fastest women's 4 × 100 of all time. 4 of the 7 faster races also were Jamaican teams with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as a member.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:^[2]

Record		Team	Date	Location
World	40.82	United States Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter	10 Aug 2012	London, United Kingdom
Championship	41.07	Jamaica Veronica Campbell-Brown, Natasha Morrison, Elaine Thompson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce		Beijing, China
World leading	41.67	Germany Lisa-Marie Kwayie, Yasmin Kwadwo, Tatjana Pinto, Gina Lückenkemper	1 Sep 2019	Berlin, Germany
African	42.39	Nigeria Beatrice Utondu, Faith Idehen, Christy Opara-Thompson, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi	7 Aug 1992	Barcelona, Spain
Asian	42.23	China Xiao Lin, Li Yali, Liu Xiaomei, Li Xuemei	23 Oct 1997	Shanghai, China
NACAC	40.82	United States Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter	10 Aug 2012	London, United Kingdom
South American	42.29	Brazil Evelyn dos Santos, Ana Cláudia Lemos, Franciela Krasucki, Rosângela Santos	18 Aug 2013	Moscow, Russia
European	41.37	Silke Gladisch-Möller, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald-Lange, Marlies Göhr	6 Oct 1985	Canberra, Australia
Oceanian	42.99	Australia Rachael Massey, Suzanne Broadrick, Jodi Lambert, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor	18 Mar 2000	Pietersburg, South Africa

The following records were set at the competition:

Record		Team	Date
Italian	42.90	Italy Johanelis Herrera Abreu, Gloria Hooper, Anna Bongiorni, Irene Siragusa	4 Oct 2019
World leading	41.44	Jamaica Natalliah Whyte, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jonielle Smith, Shericka Jackson	5 Oct 2019
Swiss	42.18	Switzerland Ajla Del Ponte, Sarah Atcho, Mujinga Kambundji, Salomé Kora

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:^[3]

Date	Time	Round
4 October	20:40	Heats
5 October	22:05	Final

Results

Heats

The first three in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.^[4]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Time	Notes
1	2	8	42.11	Q,
2	2	4	42.25	Q,
3	2	6	42.36	Q
4	1	3	42.46	Q
5	1	4	42.75	Q,
6	1	7	42.82	Q
7	2	2	42.82	q
8	2	7	42.90	q,
9	1	2	43.01
10	2	3	43.05
11	2	5	43.62
12	1	5	43.79
13	1	9	43.92
	1	6
	2	9
	1	8

Final

The final was started on 5 October at 22:05.^[5]

Rank	Lane	Time
	4	41.44
	6	41.85
	7	42.10
4	9	42.18
5	2	42.48
6	5	42.71
7	3	42.98
	8

Notes and References

Web site: 4 x 100 Metres Relay Women − Round 1 − Start list. IAAF. 4 October 2019. 6 October 2019.
Web site: 4x100 Metres Relay Women – Records . iaaf.org . 30 September 2019.
Web site: Women's 4x100 Metres Relay − Timetable. iaaf.org . 30 September 2019.
Web site: Heats results.
Web site: 4 x 100 Metres Relay Women − Final − Results. IAAF. 5 October 2019. 6 October 2019.