European Athletics Championships 2018/4 × 400 m men

discipline	4 × 400 m relay of men
city	Berlin
place	Olympiastadion Berlin
Attendees	16 relays with 76 athletes
Competition phase	August 10, 2018 (preliminary) August 11, 2018 (final)
Medalist
gold	Belgium
silver	Great Britain
bronze	Spain

The men's 4 x 400 meter relay at the 2018 European Athletics Championships took place on August 10 and 11 in the Olympic Stadium in the German capital, Berlin .

The Belgians became European champions, with three brothers involved in their victory. In the final they ran in the line-up of Dylan Borlée , Jonathan Borlée , Jonathan Sacoor and Kévin Borlée . They had also used Julian Watrin and Robin Vanderbemden in advance. The season from Great Britain took second place with Rabah Yousif , Dwayne Cowan, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Martyn Rooney as well as Cameron Chalmers, who also ran in the run-up. Spain won the bronze medal in the line-up of Óscar Husillos, Lucas Búa, Samuel García and Bruno Hortelano as well as Mark Ujakpor and Darwin Andrés Echeverry, who were also used in the preliminary stages.

The runners used by the medal winners here in the run-up also received corresponding precious metal.

Records

WR	USA ( Andrew Valmon , Quincy Watts , Harry Reynolds , Michael Johnson )	2: 54.29 min	World Cup in Stuttgart , Germany	22nd August 1993
HE	Great Britain ( Iwan Thomas , Jamie Baulch , Mark Richardson , Roger Black )	2: 56.60 min	Summer Olympics in Atlanta , USA	August 3, 1996
CR	Great Britain ( Paul Sanders , Kriss Akabusi , John Regis , Roger Black )	2: 58.22 min	EM in Split , Yugoslavia (today Croatia )	September 1, 1990

Berlin Olympic Stadium

Prelims

From the two semi-finals, the first three of each run - highlighted in light blue - and the two fastest times - highlighted in light green - qualified for the final.

Run 1

August 10, 2018, 1:05 p.m. CEST

space	train	country	Athletes	Time (min)
1	4th	Great Britain	Cameron Chalmers Dwayne Cowan Rabah Yousif Martyn Rooney	3: 01.62 EL
2	5	France	Mame-Ibra Anne Mamoudou Hanne Teddy Atine Thomas Jordier	3: 01.67 SB
3	7th	Czech Republic	Patrik Šorm Michal Desenský Vít Müller Pavel Maslák	3: 02.52 NO
4th	3	Poland	Dariusz Kowaluk Rafał Omelko Mateusz Rzeźniczak Kajetan Duszyński	3: 02.75
5	6th	Germany	Marvin Schlegel Torben Junker Fabian Dammermann Johannes Trefz	3: 03.37
6th	8th	Ukraine	Oleksiy Posdnyakov Danylo Danylenko Stanislaw Senyk Vitaly Butrym	3: 05.95 SB
DSQ	2	Switzerland	Jonas Gehrig Ricky Petrucciani Joel Burgundy Charles Devantay	IAAF Rule 163.3b - lane violation
	1	Sweden	Carl Bengtström Erik Martinsson Dennis Forsman Joel Groth	IAAF Rule 170.20 - Change error

Run 2

August 10, 2018, 1:15 p.m. CEST

space	train	country	Athletes	Time (min)
1	4th	Belgium	Julian Watrin Robin Vanderbemden Jonathan Sacoor Dylan Borlée	3: 02.55
2	3	Italy	Edoardo Scotti Michele Tricca Vladimir Aceti Davide Re	3: 04.08
3	5	Spain	Mark Ujakpor Lucas Búa Darwin Andrés Echeverry Samuel García	3: 04.62 SB
4th	6th	Netherlands	Tony van Diepen Liemarvin Bonevacia Ramsey Angela Nick Smidt	3: 04.93
5	8th	Ireland	Christopher O'Donnell Brandon Arrey Leon Reid Thomas Barr	3: 06.55 SB
6th	1	Croatia	Mateo Ružić Hrvoje Čukman Sven Cepuš Mateo Kovačić	3: 07.80 SB
7th	7th	Turkey	Abdullah Tütünci Yavuz Can Akın Özyürek Batuhan Altıntaş	3: 07.83
8th	2	Romania	Christian Radu Cosmin Trofin David Justin Nastase Robert Parge	3: 10.08

final

August 11, 2018, 9:30 p.m. CEST

All teams made line-up changes towards the finals:

• Belgium - Jonathan Borlée and Kévin Borlée ran in place of Julian Watrin and Robin Vanderbemden.
• United Kingdom - Matthew Hudson-Smith replaced Cameron Chalmers.
• Spain - Óscar Husillos and Bruno Hortelano ran for Mark Ujakpor and Darwin Andrés Echeverry.
• France - Mame-Ibra Anne has been replaced by Ludvy Vaillant.
• Poland - Karol Zalewski and Łukasz Krawczuk ran instead of Dariusz Kowaluk and Mateusz Rzeźniczak.
• Italy - Matteo Galvan replaced Vladimir Aceti.
• Czech Republic - Jan Tesař and Filip Šnejdr ran for Michal Desenský and Vít Müller.
• Germany - Marvin Schlegel has been replaced by Patrick Schneider.

The preliminary results were not suitable for drawing conclusions about the actual strength of the teams. In all relays that had qualified for the finals, at least one runner was replaced, and in many cases there were even two line-up changes. Great Britain and Belgium were primarily favored. The British were the best team from Europe at the last World Championships - third place - and also at the last Olympic Games - fourth place - and were among other things European champions from 2014 . Belgium started as fourth in the 2017 World Cup and European champions in 2012 and 2016 . Spain was rated as the third best team.

France used its strongest runner Ludvy Vaillant as the starting runner, who actually changed as the leader. The gaps, however, were close, with Spain following ahead of Poland and the British and Belgians, who were almost tied. On the second lap, Lucas Búa brought Spain forward ahead of Belgium. After a strong run by Pavel Maslák, the Czech Republic was third ahead of France. Great Britain was only fifth but was less than a second behind the leading Spaniards. Poland followed just behind in sixth place. Even on the third lap, everything remained open. Spain and Belgium were further ahead, Great Britain was now third ahead of France and Poland. Only 1.3 seconds separated these seasons from each other.

The strongest final runner was the Belgian Kévin Borlée. He passed the Spaniard Bruno Hortelano and secured his team the third European Championship title, the second in a row. The British Martyn Rooney also improved by one place, so that Great Britain won the silver medal ahead of Spain. Belgium were the only team to finish under three minutes, the Brits 0.89 seconds behind and the Spaniards 1.31 seconds behind. France finished fourth, ahead of Poland and Italy. The Czech Republic came in seventh, Germany in eighth.

The Belgian winning relay, on the left Jonathan Sacoor next to the three Borlée brothers Dylan, Kévin and Jonathan

Kévin and Jonathan Borlée

space	train	country	Athletes	Time (min)
	3	Belgium	Dylan Borlée Jonathan Borlée Jonathan Sacoor Kévin Borlée in advance also: Julian Watrin Robin Vanderbemden	2: 59,47 EL
	5	Great Britain	Rabah Yousif Dwayne Cowan Matthew Hudson-Smith Martyn Rooney in advance also: Cameron Chalmers	3: 00.36 SB
	7th	Spain	Óscar Husillos Lucas Búa Samuel García Bruno Hortelano in advance also: Mark Ujakpor Darwin Andrés Echeverry	3: 00.78 SB
4th	6th	France	Ludvy Vaillant Mamoudou Hanne Teddy Atine Thomas Jordier in advance also: Mame-Ibra Anne	3: 02.08
5	2	Poland	Karol Zalewski Rafał Omelko Łukasz Krawczuk Kajetan Duszyński in advance also: Dariusz Kowaluk Mateusz Rzeźniczak	3: 02.27
6th	4th	Italy	Edoardo Scotti Michele Tricca Davide Re Matteo Galvan in advance also: Vladimir Aceti	3: 02.34
7th	8th	Czech Republic	Jan Tesař Pavel Maslák Patrik Šorm Filip Šnejdr in advance also: Michal Desenský Vít Müller	3: 03.00
8th	1	Germany	Patrick Schneider Torben Junker Fabian Dammermann Johannes Trefz in advance also: Marvin Schlegel	3: 04.69

Web links and sources

• Official Results European Athletics Championships 2018 on the EAA website , English (PDF, 49.183 KB), accessed on January 5, 2019
• Results of the European Athletics Championships 2018 at Leichtathletik.de, accessed on January 5, 2019
• Reports on the European Championships 2018 on Leichtathletik.de, accessed on January 5, 2019

Video

• Hudson-Smith runs to gold via the stadium round, European Championships 2018, sports show on youtube.com, published on August 11, 2018, accessed on January 5, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF competition rules, page 73 (PDF), accessed on January 5, 2019
2. ↑ IAAF competition rules, page 101 (PDF), accessed on January 5, 2019