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.
Aaron Brown is a Canadian sprinter who specializes in the 100 and 200 metres. As part of Canada's 4×100 m relay team, he is a two-time Olympic medallist at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and the 2022 World champion. Brown has also won two World bronze medals as part of Canada's 4×100 m relay teams in 2013 and 2015.
Deon Kristofer Lendore was a Trinidad and Tobago sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won medals at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, World Athletics Championships and World Athletics Indoor Championships. Lendore died in a car collision in Texas, United States, on 10 January 2022.
Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the Games. They were due to be held from 31 July – 9 August 2020, at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games were postponed to 2021, with the track and field events set for 30 July – 8 August. The sport of athletics at these Games was split into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, remaining in Tokyo, and road running events and racewalking events, moved to Sapporo. A total of 48 events were held, one more than in 2016, with the addition of a mixed relay event.
The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the first time. The competition was originally scheduled for August 6–15, 2021, but it was pushed back by one year due to the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics to 2021.
Ayomide Temilade Oluwatoyosi Folorunso is an Italian athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. She competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
Eseosa Fostine "Fausto" Desalu is an Italian sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres winning a silver medal in that event at the 2018 Mediterranean Games and a gold medal in the 4×100 m relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Sydney Michelle McLaughlin-Levrone is an American hurdler and sprinter who competes in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record, and 2022 World champion. She set a world record time of 50.65 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 30, 2024. She is the first track athlete to break four world records in the same event: setting four world records during 13 months, she was the first woman to break the 52-second and 51-second barriers in the 400 m hurdles. She won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. At all three competitions, she also took gold as part of a women's 4 × 400 m relay team.
Filippo Tortu is an Italian sprinter with a personal best in the 100 meters of 9.99, the first Italian in history to break the 10 seconds barrier. 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.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs Jr. is an Italian track and field sprinter and former long jumper. He is the 2020 Olympic 100 metres champion, the 2022 60 metres world champion, the 2022 and 2024 European 100 metres champion, and a member of the gold medal-winning 4 × 100 m relay team at the 2020 Olympics. He currently holds the 100 metres European record, the 60 metres European record, and is the first person to ever qualify for and win the men's 100 metres Olympic final for Italy.
Raphaela Boaheng Lukudo is an Italian sprinter specialized in the 400 m, who won four medals at international senior level with Italian national track relay team of the 4×400 m relay.
Edoardo Scotti is an Italian male 400 meter dash runner, who won a gold medal at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships and was a finalist at the 2018 European Athletics Championships with the Italian national track relay team. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in 400 m.
The 2023 World Athletics Championships, the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, were held from 19 to 27 August 2023 at the National Athletics Centre, in Budapest, Hungary. The tournament returned to its usual two-year cycle after the previous event in Eugene, Oregon, United States was postponed to 2022, held a little 13 months earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Femke Bol is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in hurdling and sprinting. She specialises in the 400 metres hurdles, where she is the 2023 World Champion, and in the 400 metres, where she is the 2024 World Indoor Champion and the short track world record holder. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team.
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.
Alice Mangione is an Italian sprinter, specialising in the 400 metres. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in the 4 × 400 m relay and 4 × 400 m mixed relay.
Lorenzo Patta is an Italian sprinter who won a gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Jacory Patterson is an American track and field athlete specializing in the sprints. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, he won a gold medal at the 2016 USATF Junior Olympics in the long jump before focusing on sprinting events. Patterson attended Dreher High School in Columbia, where he broke the state record in the 200 m and won a state title in the 400 m.
Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to run on 1 to 11 August 2024, featuring a total of 48 medal events across three distinct sets: track and field, road running, and racewalking. Four venues are to be used: Pont d'Iéna for race walking, Hôtel de Ville and Les Invalides for the start and end points of the marathon races, and Stade de France for the track and field events.
Hamza Dair, also spelled Hamza Daier, is a Moroccan sprinter specializing in the 400 metres. He won gold medals at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games and 2023 Jeux de la Francophonie in the 4 × 400 m relay, and he is an individual silver medalist at the 2023 Arab Games and 2022 Mediterranean Games as well.
