The Fastest Four Sprinters Are Not Automatically the Best Relay Team
A baton exchange can preserve speed or quietly spend it, which changes the way to watch the 4x100 metres.
Adding four individual sprint times looks like an easy way to predict a relay. It misses the moments when one runner's race becomes another's.
Follow the baton
World Athletics reported research from the Tokyo 2025 championships showing the importance of maintaining baton speed during exchanges. The study found that rankings based on the runners' individual season bests did not match the actual relay results.
Editorial image from Blogdel's sports collection, used for illustration.
That is the factual starting point. Here is the viewing exercise: watch the incoming runner, the outgoing runner and the baton as one moving system. Does the receiver accelerate smoothly? Does the incoming runner visibly hesitate? A handover can be clean enough to survive yet still interrupt momentum.
Cooperation happens at full speed
Imagine two quick runners whose timing is poorly matched. Their individual ability remains real, but the changeover forces them to negotiate while racing. Practice is about making that negotiation less expensive.
Avoid reducing a lost race to one athlete's face in a replay. An exchange involves shared preparation and coordination. Watching the baton gives the team effort a clearer shape. The race is not four separate performances taped together; each runner inherits the motion created by the previous one.
Editorial image from Blogdel's sports collection, used for illustration.
Sources and further reading
References
- Beyond sprint speed: study highlights importance of baton exchanges in 4x100m relays | World Athletics · primary