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.
Yohan Blake is a Jamaican sprinter specialising in the 100-metre and 200-metre sprint races. He won gold at the 100m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships as the youngest 100m world champion ever, and a silver medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 100m and 200m races for the Jamaican team behind Usain Bolt. His times of 9.75 in 100m and 19.44 in 200m are the fastest 100m and 200m Olympic sprints in history to place second.
Ngonidzashe Makusha is a Zimbabwean sprinter and long jumper. He is the national record holder over 100 m and long jump for Zimbabwe with 9.89 s (+1.3 m/s) and 8.40 m (0.0 m/s), respectively. Both performances were achieved during the 2011 NCAA Division I Championships in Des Moines, Iowa where he completed the 100 m - long jump double gold. Makusha was one of the only four, now five, athletes to win the 100 m - long jump double gold at the NCAA championships. The four others are DeHart Hubbard (1925), Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis (1981), and Jarrion Lawson (2016).
Su Bingtian is a professional Chinese track and field athlete specializing in the 100 metres event. As of 2022, he is the first-ever Asian-born sprinter to break the 10-second barrier. Su's personal best of 9.83 seconds makes him the all-time 10th-fastest man in the history of 100 metres at the Olympics, the all-time 15th-fastest man in the history of the 100m event, and the current holder of the 100 m Asian record. Su's personal best in the 60 metres of 6.42 seconds placed him within the all-time top six in the event.
Adam Ahmed Gemili is a British sprinter. He is the 2014 European champion at 200 metres, three-time European champion in the 4 x 100 metres relay, and part of the Great Britain team that won gold at the 2017 World Championships in the same event. He has finished fourth in the 200 m at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and fourth and fifth in separate editions of the World Championships in the same event.
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.
Akani Simbine is a South African sprinter specialising in the 100 metres event. He was fifth at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 100 metres and was the 100 metres African record holder with a time of 9.84 seconds set in July 2021 until broken by Ferdinand Omanyala in September 2021.
Louise Maria Hansson is a Swedish competitive swimmer, a member of Helsingborgs SS.
Elaine 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.
Gina Lückenkemper is a German track and field athlete who competes in the sprints. She is a three-time Olympian and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Lückenkemper is also a World Championships bronze medalist, two-time European champion and World Relays silver and bronze medalist.
Christian Coleman is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He holds personal bests of 9.76 seconds for the 100 m, which made him the 6th fastest all-time in the history of 100 metres event, and 19.85 for the 200 m. Coleman is the world record holder for the indoor 60 meters with 6.34 seconds. He was the Diamond League champion in 2018 and 2023 and the world number one ranked runner in the men's 100 m for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Noah Lyles is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters. His personal best of 19.31 seconds in the 200 m is the American record, and makes him the third fastest of all-time in the event. He is a one-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion.
Filippo Tortu is an Italian sprinter with a personal best in the 100 metres of 9.99, the first Italian in history to break the 10 seconds barrier, and the second fastest Italian in history following Marcell Jacobs. He won the gold medal in 100 metres at the 2017 European U20 Championships and the silver medal at the 2016 World U20 Championships. He ran the anchor leg in the 4×100m relay of the Italian team that won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics and at the 2024 European Championships, and the silver medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Ronnie Baker is an American professional track and field athlete specializing in the sprints. Over 60 meters his personal best time of 6.40 seconds makes him the third-fastest man in the event in history. He was champion over 60 m at the USA Indoor Championships in 2017, a medalist over 60 m at the World Indoor Championships in 2018, and a gold medallist in the 4 × 100 m relay at the World Relays in 2017. Baker was a dominant competitor over 100 m in the Diamond League circuit in 2018, winning four races and placing no worse than second, including in the final where he also placed second. He was the fastest man in the world in 2017 over 60 m, and the second fastest in 2018 over both 60 m and 100 m. In college he competed for the TCU Horned Frogs, where he was champion over 60 m at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in both 2015 and 2016. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Ronnie Baker ran the personal best of 9.83 in the men's 100m semi-finals, which made him the 6th fastest man in the history of Olympics 100m event.
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.
James Wilby is a British competitive swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke. Wilby is the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion in 200 metre breaststroke, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion in 100 metre breaststroke, and the 2022 European champion in 200 metre breaststroke. He formed part of the Great Britain team that won World Championship gold in the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay in 2019, and the England team that won the Commonwealth Games Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay in 2014 and 2022.
Usheoritse Ese Itsekiri is a Nigerian sprinter. He was the 2018 Nigerian National Sports Festival champion and the 2019 African Games bronze medallist in the 100 metres. He also won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at these games.
Wendy Lee Brown is a former New Zealand sprinter. She represented her country at the 1974 and 1978 Commonwealth Games, Brown was selected for the 1982 Commonwealth Games, but withdrew from team due to injury. Brown was the New Zealand recordholder over 100 and 200 metres between 1974 and 1985. She won six New Zealand national sprinting titles between 1971 and 1981.
The men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2021 World Athletics Relays has been held at the Silesian Stadium on 1 and 2 May.
Zimbabwe 
