Complete Stats of 4x100m Fastest Anchor Leg Splits

Last Updated on May 1, 2015 by Jimson Lee

Mike Hurst is probably the best known Coach-Journalist combo out there.  But Pierre-Jean Vazel is a close second, as you probably know his name either as an Elite Coach or as a Journalist. Or both.

As a coach, he coached 2 sprinters under 10.00 seconds (Nigeria’s Olusoji Fasuba 9.85 100m). The other sprinter is Ronald Pognon of France with PRs of 6.45 and 9.99 for 60m & 100m respectively.

As a writer, he is a sports reporter for LeMonde.fr and the IAAF website correspondent for France since 2004. You can read more about Pierre-Jean Vazel in my Freelap Friday Five interview last year.

Fastest 4x100m Relay Splits (short list)

Up until today, I only had a handful of “Unofficial” Fastest Relay Splits in 4×100, with sources varying by different people and analysis techniques:

• 8.70, Usain Bolt, 2012 London Olympics
• 8.70, Asafa Powell, 2008 Beijing Olympics
• 8.71, Usain Bolt, 2010 Penn Relays
• 8.85, Carl Lewis, 1992 Barcelona Olympics
• 8.5 (hand time), Bob Hays, 1964 Tokyo Olympics

This article was written by Pierre-Jean Vazel.

Complete Stats of 4x100m Fastest Anchor Leg Splits

by Pierre-Jean Vazel

IAAF World Relays are going strong this week-end but even if it’s unlikely there will be any world record in the 4x100m, maybe we will see some very fast anchor legs. Compilation of the best times for those anchor legs is a difficult task because not all relay races have been analysed and inaccurate reports have made things worse.

I tried to update a word best all-time list and a progression of world best from competition reports. I have added some performances from my high-speed camera measurements. For each of the performances, I made a point to cite the source in order so that statisticians can use this list, and excluded those for which the source was unknown or unreliable.

Some prominent names are missing, like Maurice Greene, Tyson Gay, Yohan Blake, Florence Griffith-Joyner or Marion Jones, for the reason that their best races were not analysed and some of them mostly ran second or third leg.

For sake of clarity, I didn’t listed times for second and third legs as two methods are used. In the first method, the baton is timed, which means each of the four times match the final 4x100m time. In the second method, used in former East Germany, each runner is timed, which mean the addition of their time don’t add up (the giver and receiver rarely cross the 100m, 200m or 300m lines exactly in the same time).

It’s important to note that there have never been anything such as official relay leg splits. Only the final result is official. However, Omega has had the great idea to use a photofinish device aligned with the last exchange mid-zone in Los Angeles, providing precise and accurate timing. Details and pictures of this apparatus is described in J.-P. Bovay’s book Coliseum ’32-’84 (Omega, 1985).

Any comment, correction, amendment and discussion about the list are welcome!

MEN’s Unofficial Progression of the World Best Anchor Legs for 4x100m relay

Split Time	Athlete	Country	Relay Time	Event	Location	Date
9.1	Dave Sime	USA	39.60 dq	OG	Roma	8-Sep-60
A. Bouillé, La lettre de l’Athlétisme 06/1991, no details about the original source is given. US team was disqualified
8.8	Bob Hayes	USA			Modesto	25-May-63
Interview with Hayes in A.A.U. News : “They tell me I ran 8.8 for 110 yards with a flying start in that Modesto race) – Report states that Hayes received the baton 10 yards behind the leader and won with a seven yard margin. However accuracy of this hand timing is unknown.
9.0e	Bob Hayes	USA	39.06	OG	Tokyo	21-Oct-64
Various times were reported for this run, from a 8.5 hand time to a 9.1 estimation by G. Turova (Legkaya Atletika 3/1965) on her technical analysis. From my video analysis of a Polish footage, Hayes ran 9.0e, he took the baton circa 0.15 after Dudziak/POL (10.52 in the individual event) and won by 0.30 over him.
9.1e	Jim Hines	USA	38.24	OG	Mexico	21-Oct-68
D. Potts, Track & Field News Oct./Nov. 1968 “One watch caught him in 8.2, which if correct is the fastest ever”. My estimation from video and positions of runners from pictures of the last exchange is 9.1e for Hines (times for some other finalists: 9.2 Miller/JAM, 9.3 Bambuck/FRA, 9.5 Figuerola/CUB,9.6 Eggers/GDR)
9.20	Pietro Mennea	ITA	39.14	OG	München	10-Sep-72
H. Gundlach, Olympische Leichathletik-Wettkämpfe, video analysis
9.11	Steven Riddick	USA	38.33	OG	Montreal	31-Jul-76
D. Lamarre (French chief timekeeper), Résultats complets, AEFA, electric timing
8.98	Carl Lewis	USA	37.86	WC	Helsinki	10-Aug-83
M. Butler, Athletics Statistics Book, World Championships (IAAF)
8.94	Carl Lewis	USA	37.83	OG	Los Angeles	11-Aug-84
Los Angeles 84, Intermediate and final times all events (Omega, photofinish)
8.86	Carl Lewis	USA	37.90	WC	Roma	6-Sep-87
Official results Roma 1987. Biomechanicians Susanka & Moravec timed Lewis in 8.78 (Atletika, 7/89)
8.85	Carl Lewis	USA	37.40	OG	Barcelona	8-Aug-92
M. Butler, Athletics Statistics Book, Olympic Games (IAAF)
8.84	Asafa Powell	JAM	37.89	WC	Osaka	1-Sep-07
JAF daily biomechanical report for IAAF
8.68	Asafa Powell	JAM	37.10	OG	Beijing	22-Aug-08
PJV video analysis 100 fps, same time found by R. Graubner (FGS Halle)

WOMAN’s Unofficial Progression of the World Best Anchor Legs for 4x100m relay

Split Time	Athlete	Country	Relay Time	Event	Location	Date
10.5	Wilma Rudolph	USA	44.3	vURS	Moskva	15-Jul-61
G. Turova, Legkaya Atletika magazine 8/64, video analysis
10.16	Raelene Boyle	AUS	43.61	OG	München	10-Sep-72
H. Gundlach, Olympische Leichathletik-Wettkämpfe 1972, video analysis
10.15	Martina Blos	GDR	42.51		K.-M.-Stadt	29-May-76
FGS Halle, Wettkampfauswertung 1976
10.14	Bärbel Eckert	GDR	42.55	OG	Montreal	31-Jul-76
D. Lamarre (French chief timekeeper), Résultats complets, AEFA, electric timing
9.96	Marlies Göhr	GDR	41.60	OG	Moskva	1-Aug-80
D. Lamarre, Résultats complets AEFA n.68/1980
9.77	Evelyn Ashford	USA	41.65	OG	Los Angeles	11-Aug-84
Los Angeles 84, Intermediate and final times all events (Omega, photofinish)
9.72	Merlene Ottey	JAM	41.94	WC	Tokyo	22-Aug-91
Y. Sugiura & al. Time analysis of elite sprinters in the 4x100m, NSA 10:3/1995
9.67	Christine Arron	FRA	42.59	EC	Budapest	22-Aug-98
PJV video analysis 50 fps, other source gives 9.66

MEN’s Unofficial World All-time List for the Best Anchor Legs for 4×100 m relay

Split Time	Athlete	Country	Relay Time	Event	Location	Date
8.68	Asafa Powell	JAM	37.1	OG	Beijing	22-Aug-08
PJV video analysis 100 fps, same time found by R. Graubner (FGS Halle)
8.69	Usain Bolt	JAM	37.34	WC	Moskva	18-Aug-13
PJV high-speed video analysis 210 fps
8.85	Carl Lewis	USA	37.4	OG	Barcelona	8-Aug-92
M. Butler, Athletics Statistics Book, Olympic Games (IAAF)
8.92	Leroy Burrell	USA	37.4	WC	Stuttgart	21-Aug-93
R. Graubner (FGS Halle) video analysis – biomechanical analysis for IAAF
8.93	Donovan Bailey	CAN	39.36	OG	Atlanta	2-Aug-96
Official results Atlanta 1996
8.94	Richard Thompson	TRI	37.62	WC	Berlin	22-Aug-09
R. Graubner (FGS Halle) video analysis – biomechanical analysis for IAAF
8.95	Linford Christie	GBR	38.28	OG	Seoul	1-Oct-88
Athletics full results Seoul’88 (Omega)
8.95	Ryan Bailey	USA	37.04	OG	London	11-Aug-12
PJV high-speed video analysis 210 fps
8.97	Dwain Chambers	GBR	37.80 dq	WC	Moskva	18-Aug-13
PJV high-speed video analysis 210 fps
8.98	Dennis Mitchell	USA	37.96	OG	Atlanta	2-Aug-96
Official results Atlanta 1996

WOMAN’s Unofficial World All-time List for the Best Anchor Legs for 4×100 m relay

 

Split Time	Athlete	Country	Relay Time	Event	Location	Date
9.67	Christine Arron	FRA	42.59	EC	Budapest	22-Aug-98
PJV video analysis 50 fps, other source gives 9.66
9.70	Carmelita Jeter	USA	40.82	OG	London	10-Aug-12
R. Graubner (FGS Halle) video analysis
9.72	Merlene Ottey	JAM	41.94	WC	Tokyo	22-Aug-91
Y. Sugiura & al. Time analysis of elite sprinters in the 4x100m, NSA 10:3/1995
9.73	Gwen Torrence	USA	42.11	OG	Barcelona	8-Aug-92
M. Butler, Athletics Statistics Book, Olympic Games (IAAF)
9.76	S.-A. Fraser-Pryce	JAM	41.29	WC	Moskva	18-Aug-13
PJV high-speed video analysis 210 fps
9.77	Evelyn Ashford	USA	41.65	OG	Los Angeles	11-Aug-84
Los Angeles 84, Intermediate and final times all events (Omega)
9.83	Kerron Stewart	JAM	42.06	WC	Berlin	22-Aug-09
R. Graubner (FGS Halle) video biomechanical analysis for IAAF
9.84	Gail Devers	USA	41.49	WC	Stuttgart	22-Aug-93
R. Graubner (FGS Halle) video biomechanical analysis for IAAF (revised result from the 9.86 originally published)
9.86	V. Campbell-Brown	JAM	41.70	WC	Daegu	4-Sep-11
PJV high-speed video analysis 210 fps
9.87	Irina Privalova	RUS	41.49	WC	Stuttgart	22-Aug-93
R. Graubner (FGS Halle) video analysis – biomechanical analysis for IAAF (revised result from the 9.89 originally published)
Note: Ekaterini Thanou (GRE) probably ran under 9.80 in Budapest’98 but her team was left behind at the last exchange and no estimation of her time was possible as she was out of the screen.