1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay

Records

Existing records at the start of the event.

Heats

All times shown are in seconds.

Heat 1

1.  East Germany (Andreas Knebel, Thomas Schröder, Jens Hübler, Frank Emmelmann) 39.22 Q
2.  Bulgaria (Krasimir Sarbakov, Yordan Vandov, Bogomil Karadimov, Valentin Atanasov) 39.55 Q
3.  Great Britain (Ainsley Bennett, Donovan Reid, Mike McFarlane, Drew McMaster) 39.56 Q
4.  Nigeria (Innocent Egbunike, Ikpoto Eseme, Samson Oyeledun, Chidi Imoh) 39.62 Q
5.  Finland (Jouko Lehtinen, Jouko Hassi, Jukka Sihvonen, Kimmo Saaristo) 39.65 q
6.  Bahamas (Fabian Whymns, Austin Albury, Joey Wells, David Charlton) 39.91 q
7.  Ghana (Ernest Obeng, Sam Aidoo, Edward Pappoe, Awudu Nuhu) 41.92

Heat 2

1.  United States (Emmit King, Willie Gault, Calvin Smith, Carl Lewis) 38.75 Q
2.  Italy (Stefano Tilli, Carlo Simionato, Pierfrancesco Pavoni, Pietro Mennea) 39.40 Q
3.  Hungary (Ferenc Kiss, István Nagy, László Babály, István Tatár) 39.58 Q
4.  Australia (Paul Narracott, Gerrard Keating, Bruce Frayne, Gary Minihan) 40.02 Q
5.  Ivory Coast (Otokpa Kouadio, Avognan Nogboum, Georges Kablan Degnan, Gabriel Tiacoh) 40.70

Heat 3

1.  Soviet Union (Andrey Prokofyev, Nikolay Sidorov, Vladimir Muravyov, Viktor Bryzgin) 38.77 Q
2.  France (Thierry Francois, Marc Gasparoni, Antoine Richard, Jean-Jacques Boussemart) 39.17 Q
3.  West Germany (Werner Bastians, Christian Haas, Jürgen Evers, Andreas Rizzi) 39.35 Q
4.  Poland (Krzysztof Zwoliński, Zenon Licznerski, Czesław Prądzyński, Marian Woronin) 39.41 Q
5.  Jamaica (George Walcott, Ray Stewart, Leroy Reid, Colin Bradford) 39.49 q
6.  Greece (Angelos Angelidis, Theodoros Gatzios, Nikos Hadjinicolaou, Kosmas Stratos) 39.85 q
7.  Thailand (Somsak Boontad, Suchart Chairsuvaparb, Prasit Boomprasert, Sumet Promna) 40.17
8.  Chinese Taipei (Wu Jing-Yee, Lee Kuo-Sheng, Hwang Chian-Shin, Hwang Sheng-Tai) 40.49

Heat 1

1.  Soviet Union (Andrey Prokofyev, Nikolay Sidorov, Vladimir Muravyov, Viktor Bryzgin) 38.62 Q
2.  Italy (Stefano Tilli, Carlo Simionato, Pierfrancesco Pavoni, Pietro Mennea) 38.74 Q
3.  Poland (Krzysztof Zwoliński, Zenon Licznerski, Czesław Prądzyński, Marian Woronin) 39.01 Q
4.  France (Thierry Francois, Marc Gasparoni, Antoine Richard, Jean-Jacques Boussemart) 39.14 Q
5.  Nigeria (Innocent Egbunike, Ikpoto Eseme, Samson Oyeledun, Chidi Imoh) 39.44
6.  Greece (Angelos Angelidis, Theodoros Gatzios, Nikos Hadjinicolaou, Kosmas Stratos) 39.71
7.  Finland (Jouko Lehtinen, Jouko Hassi, Jukka Sihvonen, Kimmo Saaristo) 40.02

Heat 2

1.  United States (Emmit King, Willie Gault, Calvin Smith, Carl Lewis) 38.50 Q
2.  East Germany (Andreas Knebel, Thomas Schröder, Jens Hübler, Frank Emmelmann) 38.95 Q
3.  West Germany (Werner Bastians, Christian Haas, Jürgen Evers, Andreas Rizzi) 39.13 Q
4.  Jamaica (George Walcott, Ray Stewart, Leroy Reid, Colin Bradford) 39.18 Q
5.  Great Britain (Ainsley Bennett, Donovan Reid, Mike McFarlane, Drew McMaster) 39.39
6.  Bulgaria (Krasimir Sarbakov, Yordan Vandov, Bogomil Karadimov, Valentin Atanasov) 39.59
7.  Bahamas (Fabian Whymns, Austin Albury, Joey Wells, David Charlton) 40.52

Final

1.  United States (Emmit King, Willie Gault, Calvin Smith, Carl Lewis) 37.86 (WR)
2.  Italy (Stefano Tilli, Carlo Simionato, Pierfrancesco Pavoni, Pietro Mennea) 38.37 (NR)
3.  Soviet Union (Andrey Prokofyev, Nikolay Sidorov, Vladimir Muravyov, Viktor Bryzgin) 38.41
4.  East Germany (Andreas Knebel, Thomas Schröder, Jens Hübler, Frank Emmelmann) 38.51
5.  West Germany (Werner Bastians, Christian Haas, Jürgen Evers, Andreas Rizzi) 38.56
6.  Poland (Krzysztof Zwoliński, Zenon Licznerski, Czesław Prądzyński, Marian Woronin) 38.72
7.  Jamaica (George Walcott, Ray Stewart, Leroy Reid, Colin Bradford) 38.75
8.  France (Thierry Francois, Marc Gasparoni, Antoine Richard, Jean-Jacques Boussemart) 38.98