Men's 4 x 100 metres relay world record progression

The first world record in the 4 x 100 metres relay for men (athletics) was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, in 1912.

To June 21, 2009, the IAAF has ratified 35 world records in the event.^[1]

The following table shows the world record progression in the men's 4 x 100 metre relay, as ratified by the IAAF. "y" denotes time for 4 x 110 yards (402.34 m), ratified as a record for this event.

Records 1912-1976

Time	Auto	Team	Nationality	Location of race	Date
42.3		Germany	Germany	Stockholm, Sweden	1912-07-08
42.2		United States	United States	Antwerp, Belgium	1920-08-22
42.0		Great Britain	United Kingdom	Paris, France	1924-07-12
42.0		Netherlands	Netherlands	Paris, France	1924-07-12
41.0		United States	United States	Paris, France	1924-07-13
41.0y		Newark A.C. (Johnny Gibson)	United States	Lincoln, Nebraska, USA	1927-07-04
41.0		Eintracht Frankfurt	Germany	Halle, Germany	1928-06-10
41.0		United States	United States	Amsterdam, Netherlands	1928-08-05
41.0		Germany	Germany	Berlin, Germany	1928-09-02
40.8		S.C. Charlottenburg	Germany	Breslau, Germany (now Poland)	1929-07-22
40.8y		University of Southern California	United States	Fresno, USA	1931-05-09
40.6		Germany	Germany	Kassel, Germany	1932-06-14
40.0	40.10	United States	United States	Los Angeles, USA	1932-08-07
39.8		United States	United States	Berlin, Germany	1936-08-09
39.5	39.60	United States	United States	Melbourne, Australia	1956-12-01
39.5		Federal Republic of Germany	Germany	Cologne, Germany	1958-08-29
39.5	39.61	Federal Republic of Germany	Germany	Rome, Italy	1960-09-07
39.5	39.66	Federal Republic of Germany	Germany	Rome, Italy	1960-09-08
39.1		United States	United States	Moscow, USSR	1961-07-15
39.0	39.06	United States	United States	Tokyo, Japan	1964-10-21
38.6y		University of Southern California	United States	Provo, USA	1967-06-17
38.6	38.65	Jamaica	Jamaica	Mexico City, Mexico	1968-10-19
38.3	38.39	Jamaica	Jamaica	Mexico City, Mexico	1968-10-19
38.2	38.24	United States	United States	Mexico City, Mexico	1968-10-20
38.2	38.19	United States	United States	Munich, Germany	1972-09-10

Records since 1977

From 1975 onwards, the IAAF accepted separate automatically electronically timed records for events up to 400 metres. Starting January 1, 1977, the IAAF required fully automatic timing to the hundredth of a second for these events.^[1]

The United States relay team's 1972 Olympic gold medal victory time of 38.19 was the fastest recorded result to that time.

Time	Team	Nationality	Location	Date	Ref	Event	Participants
38.19	United States	United States	Munich, Germany	1972-09-10		1972 Munich Summer Olympics Final	Larry Black; Robert Taylor; Gerald Tinker; Eddie Hart
38.03	United States	United States	Düsseldorf, Germany	1977-09-03		1977 IAAF World Cup	Bill Collins; Steve Riddick; Cliff Wiley; Steve Williams
37.86	United States	United States	Helsinki, Finland	1983-08-10	[2]	1983 World Championships Final	Emmit King, Willie Gault, Calvin Smith, Carl Lewis
37.83	United States	United States	Los Angeles, USA	1984-08-11		1984 Los Angeles Olympics Final	Sam Graddy; Ron Brown; Calvin Smith; Carl Lewis
37.79	France	France	Split, Yugoslavia (now Croatia)	1990-09-01		1990 European Championships	Max Morinière; Daniel Sangouma; Jean-Charles Trouabal; Bruno Marie-Rose
37.79	Santa Monica Track Club	United States	Monte Carlo, Monaco	1991-08-03			Michael Marsh; Leroy Burrell; Floyd Heard; Carl Lewis
37.67	United States 1	United States	Zürich, Switzerland	1991-08-07		1991 Weltklasse Zurich meet	Michael Marsh; Leroy Burrell; Dennis Mitchell; Carl Lewis
37.50	United States	United States	Tokyo, Japan	1991-09-01	[3]	1991 World Championships Final	Andre Cason; Leroy Burrell; Dennis Mitchell; Carl Lewis
37.40	United States	United States	Barcelona, Spain	1992-08-08		1992 Barcelona Olympics	Michael Marsh; Leroy Burrell; Dennis Mitchell; Carl Lewis
37.40	United States	United States	Stuttgart, Germany	1993-08-21		1993 World Championships Semi-Final	Jon Drummond; Andre Cason; Dennis Mitchell; Leroy Burrell
37.10	Jamaica	Jamaica	Beijing, China	2008-08-22	[4]	2008 Olympics Final	Nesta Carter; Michael Frater; Usain Bolt; Asafa Powell
37.04	Jamaica	Jamaica	Daegu, Korea	2011-09-04	[5]	2011 World Championships Final	Nesta Carter; Michael Frater; Yohan Blake; Usain Bolt

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009." (pdf). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 561–2. http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf. Retrieved August 4, 2009. 
2. ^ "4x100 Metres Results". IAAF. 10 August 1983. http://www2.iaaf.org/results/past/WCH83/data/M/4X1/Rf.html. Retrieved 5 September 2011. 
3. ^ "4x100 Metres Results". 1 September 1991. http://www2.iaaf.org/results/past/WCH91/data/M/4X1/Rf.html. Retrieved 5 September 2011. 
4. ^ "4x100 Metres Results". IAAF. 22 August 2011. http://www.iaaf.org/oly08/results/eventcode=3659/racedate=08-22-2008/sex=M/discCode=4X1/combCode=hash/roundCode=f/results.html#detM_4X1_hash_f. Retrieved 4 September 2011. 
5. ^ "4x100 Metres Results". IAAF. 4 September 2011. http://daegu2011.iaaf.org/documents/pdf/4147/AT-4X1-M-f--1--.RS1.pdf. Retrieved 4 September 2011.