The 4 × 400 metres relay at the
World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. The competition features three formats in relation to gender: men, women, and mixed. The 2019 edition added in the mixed competition. The format utilizes one set of heats qualifying the top 8 into a final.
The United States holds all the
championship records in this event. For both the men and women, the record has been held since
1993 with a time of 2:54.29 for the men and 3:16.71 for the women. In the mixed competition, a time of 3:09.34 was set in
2019. For the men and the mixed records, they are also both
world records.
Note * Indicates athletes who ran only in the preliminary round and also received medals.
dq1 The United States team (
Jerome Young,
Antonio Pettigrew,
Chris Jones and
Tyree Washington) originally won the 1997 World Championships in a time of 2:56.47 minutes, but was disqualified in 2009 after Pettigrew admitted to doping during the period.
dq3 The United States team (
Leonard Byrd,
Antonio Pettigrew,
Derrick Brew and
Angelo Taylor) originally won the 2001 World Championships, but was disqualified in 2009 after Pettigrew admitted to doping during the period.
dq4 The United States team (
Calvin Harrison,
Tyree Washington,
Derrick Brew and
Jerome Young) originally won the 2003 World Championships, but was disqualified in 2004 after Harrison and Young were found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
dq5 The Russian team (
Maksim Dyldin,
Lev Mosin,
Sergey Petukhov and
Vladimir Krasnov) originally finished third in the 2013 World Championships, but was disqualified after Dyldin was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.