European Athletics Championships 1986/4 × 400 m men

14th European Athletics Championships
discipline	4 × 400 m relay of men
city	Stuttgart
Stadion	Neckar Stadium
Attendees	9 relays with 40 athletes
Competition phase	August 30th (preliminary) August 31st (final)
Medalist
gold	Great Britain
silver	BR Germany
bronze	Soviet Union

The Stuttgart stadium - today the Mercedes-Benz Arena in 2011

The men's 4 x 400 meter relay at the 1986 European Athletics Championships took place on August 30 and 31, 1986 in the Neckar Stadium in Stuttgart .

Great Britain became European champion in the line-up of Derek Redmond ( only used in the final ), Kriss Akabusi , Brian Whittle and Roger Black as well as Philip Brown, who was also used in the run-up . Second place went to the Federal Republic of Germany with Klaus Just , Edgar Itt , Harald Schmid and Ralf Lübke ( only in the final ) and Jörg Vaihinger, who was also used in the preliminary run . Bronze went to the USSR with Vladimir Prosin , Vladimir Krylow ( only in the final ), Arkady Kornilov and Alexander Kurotschkin as well as Vladimir Volodko, who was also used in the preliminary run .

The runners used in the heats for the medal winners also received corresponding precious metal.

Records

Existing records

World record	2: 56.16 min	USA ( Vince Matthews , Ron Freeman , Larry James , Lee Evans )	OS Mexico City Mexico	20th October 1968
European record	2: 59.13 min	Great Britain ( Kriss Akabusi , Garry Cook , Todd Bennett , Philip Brown )	Los Angeles USA	August 11, 1984
EM record	3: 00.51 min	BR Germany ( Erwin Skamrahl , Harald Schmid , Thomas Giessing , Hartmut Weber )	EM Prague Czechoslovakia	3rd September 1978

Record improvement

The European championship relay from Great Britain improved the existing EM record with the line-up of Derek Redmond , Kriss Akabusi , Brian Whittle and Roger Black in the final on August 31 by 67 hundredths of a second to 2: 59.84 minutes, making it the first and so far only season below the three-minute mark.

Preliminary round

August 30, 1986, 8:20 pm

The preliminary round was held in two runs. The first three seasons per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the two fastest seasons - highlighted in light green - qualified for the final. Only one of the teams involved had to retire.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Time (min)
1	BR Germany	Klaus Just Edgar Itt Jörg Vaihinger Harald Schmid	3: 03.79
2	Italy	Giovanni Bongiorni Mauro Zuliani Vito Petrella Roberto Ribaud	3: 03.96
3	Great Britain	Kriss Akabusi Brian Whittle Philip Brown Roger Black	3: 04.17
4th	Spain	Juan José Prado Antonio Sánchez José Alonso Angel Heras	3: 04.44
5	Hungary	Gusztáv Menczer László Kiss István Takács István Szabó	3: 09.50

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	Time (min)
1	Soviet Union	Vladimir Volodko Vladimir Prosin Arkady Kornilov Alexander Kurotschkin	3: 04.60
2	GDR	Frank Möller Carlo Niestädt Thomas Schönlebe Mathias Schersing	3: 05.53
3	Yugoslavia	Slobodan Branković Slobodan Popović Predrag Melnjak Željko Knapić	3: 05.92
4th	France	Yann Quentrec Pascal Barré Jacques Boussemart Aldo Canti	3: 06.40

final

August 31, 1986, 5:45 p.m.

space	Season	occupation	Time (min)
1	Great Britain	Derek Redmond ( final ), Kriss Akabusi, Brian Whittle, Roger Black in the run-up to: Philip Brown	2: 59.84 CR
2	BR Germany	Klaus Just Edgar Itt Harald Schmid Ralf Lübke ( final ) in the preliminary run also: Jörg Vaihinger	3: 00.17
3	Soviet Union	Vladimir Prosin Vladimir Krylow ( final ) Arkadi Kornilow Alexander Kurotschkin in the preliminary run also: Vladimir Volodko	3: 00.47
4th	Italy	Giovanni Bongiorni Mauro Zuliani Vito Petrella Roberto Ribaud	3: 01.37 NO
5	Spain	Juan José Prado Antonio Sánchez José Alonso Angel Heras	3: 04.12
6th	GDR	Frank Möller Carlo Niestädt Thomas Schönlebe Mathias Schersing	3: 04.87
7th	Yugoslavia	Slobodan Branković Slobodan Popović Predrag Melnjak Željko Knapić	3: 05.27
8th	France	Yann Quentrec Philippe Gonigam ( final ) Jacques Boussemart Aldo Canti in the preliminary also: Pascal Barré	3: 10.17

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Stuttgart 1986 at european-athletics.org, accessed on August 31, 2019
• Men 4x400m Relay European Championship 1986 Stuttgart on todor66.com, accessed August 31, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1986 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed on August 31, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Men 4x400m Relay European Championship 1986 Stuttgart, p. 448 (PDF, 13,363 kB), Spanish / English at european-athletics.org, accessed on August 31, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1986, 4 × 400 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on August 31, 2019
• 14th European Athletics Championships 1986 in Stuttgart, Germany from ifosta.de, accessed on August 31, 2019

Video

• 1986 European Athletics Championships Men's 4x400m final , published on April 18, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed on August 31, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 4 × 400 m , accessed on August 31, 2019
2. ^ Progression of the European Outdoor Records. 4 × 400 m on rfea.es, p. 37 (PDF, 271 kB). French / English, accessed on August 1, 2019