The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race. Each runner carries a relay baton. Before 2018, the baton had to be passed within a 20 m changeover box, preceded by a 10-metre acceleration zone. With a rule change effective November 1, 2017, that zone was modified to include the acceleration zone as part of the passing zone, making the entire zone 30 metres in length. The outgoing runner cannot touch the baton until it has entered the zone, and the incoming runner cannot touch it after it has left the zone. The zone is usually marked in yellow, frequently using lines, triangles or chevrons. While the rule book specifies the exact positioning of the marks, the colours and style are only "recommended". While most legacy tracks will still have the older markings, the rule change still uses existing marks. Not all governing body jurisdictions have adopted the rule change.
Kathryn Jane Cook is a former elite athlete, specialising in sprint and sprint relays. She is one of the most successful female sprinters in British athletics history. She is three-times an Olympic bronze medallist, including at 400 metres in Los Angeles 1984. Her other individual achievements include winning the 200m at the 1981 Universiade, finishing second in the 100m at the 1981 World Cup, and winning a bronze medal in the 200m at the 1983 World Championships. She is also three-times a winner of the British Athletics Writers' Association Female Athlete of the Year Award (1980–82).
Dafne Schippers is a Dutch retired track and field athlete who competed in sprinting and the combined events. She holds the European record in the 200 metres with a time of 21.63 seconds, making her the sixth-fastest woman of all time at this distance. She also holds the Dutch records in the 100 metres and long jump, and shares the Dutch records in the 60 metres indoor and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Anthonique Strachan is a Bahamian sprinter, she is the 2012 100m and 200m World Junior Champion. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics, in 200 m. and 4 × 400 m relay
Zharnel Hughes is an Anguilla-born British sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, he has competed internationally for Great Britain in the Olympic Games, World Athletics and European Athletics events, and for England at the Commonwealth Games, since 2015. A double Commonwealth Games, double European Championships gold medalist as part of the 4 x 100 metres relay, Hughes has twice been European champion individually; over 100 metres in 2018, and 200 metres in 2022. In 2023, he broke both British sprint records, before winning his first global individual medal, a bronze in the 100 metres at the 2023 World championships.
Geraldina Rachel Asher-Smith is a British sprinter internationally active since 2011. In 2019 she was the first British woman to win a World title in a sprint event.
Veronica Shanti Pereira is a Singaporean track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 x 100 m, and 4 x 400 m. She holds the 100 m national record (11.20s), 200 m national record (22.57s), 400 m national record (53.67s), 200 m SEA Games record (22.69s), and the 200 m Asian Athletics Championships games record (22.70s). She was ranked 1st in Asia in 2023 for both the 100 m and 200 m based on World Athletics' records.
Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah is a Jamaican sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, she is a five-time Olympic champion, the fastest woman alive in the 100 m, and the third fastest ever in the 200 m.
Fredrick Lee Kerley is an American track and field sprinter. He was the Olympic silver medalist over 100 m at the 2020 Olympics and bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics in the same event. Kerley has earned an additional six medals at the World Championships, most notably 100m gold at the 2022 edition. He has also medalled in the 400m, 4 x 100m relay, and 4 × 400 m relay and won eleven Diamond League races, including two Diamond League finals - the 400m in 2018 and the 100m in 2021.
Riley Day is an Australian sprinter. She was selected for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and competed in the Women's 200 meters. Day came third in her heat and therefore qualified for the semi-final. She managed a time of 22:56, 0.43 of a second behind the winner Shelly-Ann Frazer-Pryce from Jamaica.
Imke Vervaet is a Belgian athlete. She competed at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics as a 200 metres runner and as a member of the Belgian women's 4x400 metres and mixed 4x400 metres relay teams. She also participated at multiple World and European Athletics championships, indoor and outdoor, individually and as a member of the 4x400 metres relay teams. She was national champion in the women's 200 metres in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024.
Celeste Mucci is an Australian athlete. She was fourth in the women's heptathlon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in April in Brisbane, Australia, and was fifth in the women's heptathlon at the July 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships held in the Ratinan Stadion, Tampere, Finland. Mucci won the Australian national championships in heptathlon in 2018 and 2019.
Lieke Klaver is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in sprinting. She specializes in the 200 metres and in the 400 metres. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team and the 2024 Olympic Champion with the Dutch mixed team.
Ellie Beer is an Australian athlete. She competed in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Beer was a member of the Australian team that competed in the women's 4 x 400 metre relay. The team of Kendra Hubbard and Annaliese Rubie-Renshaw and Bendere Oboya finished 7th in their heat and did not contest the final.
Kristal Awuah is a British track and field athlete who competes as a sprinter.
Alexander (Alex) Beck is an Australian Olympic athlete. He is a three time defending National champion.
This article is about the Athletics in the Bahamas from the early 20th century to onward
Mia Gross is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in sprint events. She was junior Australian champion in the 100m and 200m in both 2018 and 2019. As a senior, Gross was part of the Australian sprint relay team that finished third at the Commonwealth Games in 2022. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Georgia Hulls is a New Zealand sprinter with multiple national and Oceania titles who has represented her country at the World Athletics Championships.
Torrie Lewis is an Australian track and field athlete who competes as a sprinter. She has won Australian national titles over 100m and 200m. Prior to going to Paris for the 2024 Olympics, she set a new Australian 100m national record of 11.10 seconds in January 2024.
