Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 400 metres relay

The women's 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in two rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on 9 and 10 August 2024. This was the 14th time that the women's 4 x 400 metres relay was contested at the Summer Olympics. Sixteen teams were able to qualify for the event through the 2024 World Athletics Relays or the World Athletics top list.

Women's 4 x 400 metres relay at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad
Venue	Stade de France, Paris, France
Dates	9 August 2024 (round 1) 10 August 2024 (final)
Winning time	3:15.27 (WL, AR)
Medalists
Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabrielle Thomas, Alexis Holmes, Quanera Hayes*, Aaliyah Butler*, Kaylyn Brown*  United States Lieke Klaver, Cathelijn Peeters, Lisanne de Witte, Femke Bol, Eveline Saalberg*, Myrte van der Schoot*  Netherlands Victoria Ohuruogu, Laviai Nielsen, Nicole Yeargin, Amber Anning, Yemi Mary John*, Hannah Kelly*, Jodie Williams*, Lina Nielsen* *Indicates the athlete only competed in the preliminary heats.  Great Britain

Summary

USA has finished no worse than silver at every Olympics since the 4x400 has been on the program, except the boycotted 1980 games. They have won every gold since 1996. Jamaica has medaled in every Olympics since 2000, behind USA. USA qualified in the heats with 3:21.44, running 3 seconds faster than the next best team, GBR in the first heat. All the other qualifying teams were evenly matched, spread across a little over a second. Canada was the slowest qualifier with 3:25.77.

For the final, USA replaced three of the team members, Quanera Hayes, Aaliyah Butler and Kaylyn Brown in the heats, with 400 metres hurdle champion and world record holder, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, 200 metre champion Gabrielle Thomas and Alexis Holmes. Shamier Little was the lone carry over. Coming out of the blocks. Stacey-Ann Williams took the early lead for Jamaica in lane 8, almost swallowing up the entire 3-turn stagger gap to France's Sounkamba Sylla to her outside before the end of the backstretch. Williams came onto the home stretch with a 5 metre lead (deceived by the additional turn of stagger), but Williams would slow on her final 100m. Running a more controlled pace to her inside, Little and Lieke Klaver NED gained that last 100, Little passing to McLaughlin-Levrone clearly in the lead. McLaughlin-Levrone took off like she meant business, opening up close to 15 metres on the field by the break line. The race was now for the other medals. Andrenette Knight JAM had a slight lead on Cathelijn Peeters NED, but Ireland had also put their star Rhasidat Adeleke on second leg. Adeleke moved into third before the end of the straightaway, then in the turn as she was passing Knight, Knight stopped running. Jamaica was out. By the end of her leg, McLaughlin-Levrone handed off to Thomas with almost 30 metres on Adeleke who in turn had 5 metres on a tightening group of NED, GBR, Canada, Belgium and France. McLaughlin-Levrone's relay split of 47.71 was the fourth fastest relay split in history. As Thomas took the baton she cut to the inside, cutting off McLaughlin-Levrone and making her to a tip toe dance off balance along the rail. Thomas didn't let off the gas, adding just a little more to the American lead. GBR 's Nicole Yeargin overtook Ireland's Phil Healy going into the final handoff. All Alexis Holmes had to do was not fall down and the USA would win. Holmes kept the pressure on to hold onto every inch of that huge lead. In pursuit, GBR had Amber Anning, part of the University of Arkansas super sweep at the NCAA meet, Ireland had Sharlene Mawdsley, who had already produced a 49.40 split earlier in the year and NED had Femke Bol with a slew of remarkable anchor performances over the last three years. Holmes pressed all the way to the finish, USA winning impressively with 3:15.27, coming just 0.1 second short of the steroid-infused Soviet 1988 World and Olympics record.. Behind her, Mawdsley regained Ireland's advantage on the handoff, holding Anning to the outside through the penultimate turn. Anning got ahead on the backstretch. Closing behind was Bol, passing Mawdsley then Anning to take silver for the Netherlands. Mawdsley tried to follow Bol past Anning but didn't get there. GBR took the bronze.

The American team improved upon the American and North American Record of USA at the 1988 Olympics, famously anchored by FloJo in 48.0. The next four teams each set National Records. In addition to McLaughlin-Levrone 's split, Bol's anchor was automatically timed in 48.00, the ninth fastest in history. For Little, primarily a 400 metres hurdler, #7 of all time, this was her second relay medal at these Olympics, this one gold, which was her first appearance after failing to qualify against the tidal wave of McLaughlin-Levrone and Dalilah Muhammad since 2016.

Background

The 4 × 400 metres relay at the Summer Olympics is the longest track relay event held at the multi-sport event. The women's relay has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1972.

Global records before the 2024 Summer Olympics

Record	Athlete (Nation)	Time (s)	Location	Date
World record	Soviet Union (Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina)	3:15.17	Seoul, South Korea	1 October 1988
Olympic record
World leading	Arkansas Razorbacks (Amber Anning, Rosey Effiong, Nickisha Pryce, Kaylyn Brown)	3:17.96	Eugene, United States	8 June 2024

Area records before the 2024 Summer Olympics

Area Record	Athlete (Nation)	Time (s)
Africa (records)	Nigeria (Olabisi Afolabi, Fatimat Yusuf, Charity Opara, Falilat Ogunkoya-Osheku)	3:21.04
Asia (records)	China (An Xiaohong, Bai Xiaoyun, Cao Chunying, Ma Yuqin)	3:24.28
Europe (records)	Soviet Union (Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina)	3:15.17 WR
North, Central America and Caribbean (records)	United States (Denean Howard-Hill, Diane DIxon, Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Florence Griffith-Joyner)	3:15.51
Oceania (records)	Australia (Nova Peris-Kneebone, Tamsyn Manou, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Cathy Freeman)	3:23.81
South America (records)	Brazil (Geisa Coutinho, Barbara de Oliveira, Joelma Sousa, Jailma de Lima)	3:26.68

Qualification

Main article: Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Qualification § Women's 4 × 400 m relay

For the women's 4 x 400 metres relay event, fourteen teams qualified through the 2024 World Athletics Relays. The remaining two spots were awarded to the teams with the highest ranking on the World Athletics Top List. The qualification period is between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.

Qualification event	No. of teams	Qualified teams
2024 World Athletics Relays	14	Belgium  Canada  France  Great Britain  India  Ireland  Italy  Jamaica  Netherlands  Norway  Poland  Spain  Switzerland  United States
World Athletics Top List (as of June 30, 2024)	2	Germany  Cuba
Total	16

Results

Round 1

Round 1 is scheduled to be held on 9 August, starting at 10:40 (UTC+2) in the morning.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Nation	Competitors	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	United States	Quanera Hayes, Shamier Little, Aaliyah Butler, Kaylyn Brown	0.243	3:21.44	Q, SB
2	7	Great Britain	Yemi Mary John, Hannah Kelly, Jodie Williams, Lina Nielsen	0.202	3:24.72	Q, SB
3	8	France	Sounkamba Sylla, Shana Grebo, Alexe Déau, Amandine Brossier	0.172	3:24.73	Q
4	4	Belgium	Hanne Claes, Imke Vervaet, Camille Laus, Helena Ponette	0.226	3:24.92	q
5	9	Spain	Blanca Hervás, Berta Segura, Eva Santidrián, Carmen Avilés	0.151	3:28.29
6	5	Norway	Josefine Tomine Eriksen, Lakeri Ertzgaard, Elisabeth Slettum, Amalie Iuel	0.172	3:28.61
7	2	Switzerland	Giulia Senn, Julia Niederberger, Annina Fahr, Yasmin Giger	0.150	3:29.75
8	3	Cuba	Melissa Padrón, Daily Cooper Gaspar, Sahily Diago, Roxana Gómez	0.244	3:33.99

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Nation	Competitors	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	9	Jamaica	Andrenette Knight, Ashley Williams, Charokee Young, Stephenie Ann McPherson	0.182	3:24.92	Q, SB
2	4	Netherlands	Eveline Saalberg, Lieke Klaver, Myrte van der Schoot, Lisanne de Witte	0.195	3:25.03	Q
3	8	Ireland	Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Kelly McGrory, Sharlene Mawdsley	0.204	3:25.05	Q
4	7	Canada	Zoe Sherar, Aiyanna Stiverne, Lauren Gale, Kyra Constantine	0.162	3:25.77	q
5	5	Italy	Ilaria Accame, Anna Polinari, Giancarla Trevisan, Alice Mangione	0.235	3:26.50
6	6	Poland	Anastazja Kuś, Justyna Święty-Ersetic, Aleksandra Formella, Alicja Wrona-Kutrzepa	0.172	3:26.69
7	3	Germany	Skadi Schier, Alica Schmidt, Mona Mayer, Eileen Demes	0.150	3:26.95
8	2	India	Vithya Ramraj, Jyothika Sri Dandi, M. R. Poovamma, Subha Venkatesan	0.175	3:32.51

Final

The final is scheduled to be held on 10 August, starting at 21:22 (UTC+2) in the evening.

Rank	Lane	Nation	Competitors	Reaction	Time	Notes
	6	United States	Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabrielle Thomas, Alexis Holmes	0.198	3:15.27	WL, AR
	5	Netherlands	Lieke Klaver, Cathelijn Peeters, Lisanne de Witte, Femke Bol	0.191	3:19.50	NR
	7	Great Britain	Victoria Ohuruogu, Laviai Nielsen, Nicole Yeargin, Amber Anning	0.200	3:19.72	NR
4	4	Ireland	Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy, Sharlene Mawdsley	0.207	3:19.90	NR
5	9	France	Sounkamba Sylla, Shana Grebo, Amandine Brossier, Louise Maraval	0.196	3:21.41	NR
6	2	Canada	Zoe Sherar, Savannah Sutherland, Kyra Constantine, Lauren Gale	0.156	3:22.01	SB
7	3	Belgium	Naomi Van den Broeck, Imke Vervaet, Hanne Claes, Helena Ponette	0.136	3:22.40	SB
–	8	Jamaica	Stacey Ann Williams, Andrenette Knight, Shiann Salmon, Stephenie Ann McPherson	0.153	DNF