4 × 400 m relay, mixed

What to remember

Man, woman, man, woman: in March 2022 the running order of the mixed 4 × 400 m was fixed. On August 2, 2024, at the Olympic Games in Saint-Denis, the United States covered the four laps in 3 min 07.41 s, an average of 30.74 km/h.

The individual splits tell the story: Vernon Norwood in 44.47 s, Shamier Little in 49.32 s, Bryce Deadmon in 44.17 s, the fastest of the four, and Kaylyn Brown in 49.45 s to finish. Norwood, born in New Orleans, is a 400 m specialist and an Olympic medallist in relays.

The event is a recent one. It was introduced at the 2017 IAAF World Relays and then held at the 2019 World Championships in Qatar. At first teams could arrange their runners in any order, which meant men and women sometimes ran against each other on the same leg. The record stood at 3 min 09.34 s in 2019 and at 3 min 08.80 s in 2023: in 5 years the time improved by only 1%.