Events at the 2011 World Championships
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men	women
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men	women
50 km walk	men
Field events
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men	women
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
v t e

The Women's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on 4 September.

Runners from the United States had provided the fastest times before the competition, but bad baton exchanges had seen their teams disqualified at both the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Championships. The Americans and Jamaica, the defending world relay champions, were seen as the primary contenders for the title. Ukraine and Russia (the Olympic title holder) were the next fastest entrants into the championships.^[1]

The first semi-final was won by a ragged looking Jamaican team. France followed Jamaica into the final. In third place, Brazil set the South American record and qualified for the final by time. China false started out of the event. The second semi-final was won by Trinidad and Tobago, setting their national record, with Ukraine following them into the final. Russia also qualified on time. In the third semi-final, the USA, running in lane 2 ran the world leader to qualify, along with Nigeria. In lane 3, Bahamas' Anthonique Strachan fell as the modern version of the golden girls tried to qualify. Bahamas eventually finished while Germany was unable to complete their first handoff.

In the final, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce put Jamaica into the lead, but strong legs from Allyson Felix and Marshevet Myers brought the United States back into contention. Despite their recent history of poor handoffs, the United States executed their final baton exchange perfectly, gaining a couple of metres on Jamaica. Given the lead, Carmelita Jeter was able to hold off a closing Veronica Campbell-Brown for the win. Jamaica set their national record in second. Ukraine's Hrystyna Stuy in lane 8 ran down France and Trinidad and Tobago to finish a distant third.

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States (USA) Bianca Knight Allyson Felix Marshevet Myers Carmelita Jeter Shalonda Solomon* Alexandria Anderson*	Jamaica (JAM) Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Kerron Stewart Sherone Simpson Veronica Campbell-Brown Jura Levy*	Ukraine (UKR) Olesya Povh Nataliya Pohrebnyak Mariya Ryemyen Hrystyna Stuy

World record	East Germany (Silke Gladisch-Möller, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald-Lange, Marlies Göhr)	41.37	Canberra, Australia	6 October 1985
Championship record	United States (Chryste Gaines, Marion Jones, Inger Miller, Gail Devers)	41.47	Athens, Greece	9 August 1997
World leading	United States Red (Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers, Carmelita Jeter)	42.28	Philadelphia, PA, United States	5 August 2011
African record	Nigeria (Beatrice Utondu, Faith Idehen, Christy Opara-Thompson, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi)	42.39	Barcelona, Spain	7 August 1992
Asian record	China (Lin Xiao, Yali Li, Xiaomei Liu, Li Xuemei)	42.23	Shanghai, China	23 October 1997
North, Central American and Caribbean record	United States (Chryste Gaines, Marion Jones, Inger Miller, Gail Devers)	41.47	Athens, Greece	9 August 1997
South American record	Brazil (Lucimar Aparecida de Moura, Katia Regina Santos, Luciana dos Santos, Rosemar Maria Neto)	42.97	Bogotá, Colombia	10 July 2004
European record	East Germany (Silke Gladisch-Möller, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald-Lange, Marlies Göhr)	41.37	Canberra, Australia	6 October 1985
Oceanian record	Australia (Rachael Massey, Suzanne Broadrick, Jodi Lambert, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor)	42.99	Pietersburg, South Africa	18 March 2000

Qualification: First 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) advance to the final.

Rank	Heat	Nation	Athletes	Time	Notes
1	3	United States (USA)	Bianca Knight, Shalonda Solomon, Marshevet Myers, Alexandria Anderson	41.94	Q, WL
2	1	Jamaica (JAM)	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kerron Stewart, Sherone Simpson, Jura Levy	42.23	Q, SB
3	1	France (FRA)	Myriam Soumaré, Céline Distel, Lina Jacques-Sébastien, Véronique Mang	42.60	Q, SB
4	2	Ukraine (UKR)	Olesya Povh, Nataliya Pohrebnyak, Mariya Ryemyen, Hrystyna Stuy	42.63	Q, SB
5	3	Nigeria (NGR)	Gloria Asumnu, Oludamola Osayomi, Agnes Osazuwa, Blessing Okagbare	42.74	Q, SB
6	2	Russia (RUS)	Yuliya Gushchina, Natalia Rusakova, Elizabeta Savlinis, Aleksandra Fedoriva	42.78	q, SB
7	1	Brazil (BRA)	Ana Cláudia Lemos Silva, Vanda Gomes, Franciela Krasucki, Rosângela Santos	42.92	q, AR
8	3	Netherlands (NED)	Kadene Vassell, Dafne Schippers, Anouk Hagen, Jamile Samuel	43.44	NR
9	1	Colombia (COL)	Yomara Hinestroza, Maria Alejandra Idrobo, Darlenys Obregón, Norma González	43.53	SB
10	2	Australia (AUS)	Hayley Butler, Melissa Breen, Charlotte van Veenendaal, Sally Pearson	43.79
11	1	Japan (JPN)	Nao Okabe, Momoko Takahashi, Chisato Fukushima, Saori Imai	43.83
12	2	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	Tiffany Porter, Anyika Onuora, Laura Turner, Jeanette Kwakye	43.95
13	3	Switzerland (SUI)	Clélia Reuse, Jacqueline Gasser, Ellen Sprunger, Léa Sprunger	44.04
14	3	Belarus (BLR)	Anna Bagdanovich, Yuliya Balykina, Alena Neumiarzhitskaya, Hanna Liapeshka	44.38
15	2	South Korea (KOR)	Eum Jeesu, Kim So-yeon, Lee Sunae, Park So-Yeun	46.14	SB
16	1	Spain (ESP)	Plácida Martínez, Amparo Cotán, Concepción Montaner, Ruth Beitia	46.24
17	3	Bahamas (BAH)	Sheniqua Ferguson, Nivea Smith, Anthonique Strachan, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie	50.62
	3	Germany (GER)	Yasmin Kwadwo, Anne Möllinger, Cathleen Tschirch, Marion Wagner	DNF
	2	Poland (POL)	Anna Kiełbasińska, Marika Popowicz, Marta Jeschke, Agnieszka Ligięza	DNF
	1	China (CHN)	Wei Yongli, Liang Qiuping, Jiang Lan, Tao Yujia	DSQ	FS
	2	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	Kai Selvon, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, Michelle-Lee Ahye	DQ	Semoy Hackett's Drug Test

Rank	Lane	Nation	Athletes	Time	Notes
	4	United States (USA)	Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers, Carmelita Jeter	41.56	WL
	6	Jamaica (JAM)	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kerron Stewart, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell-Brown	41.70	NR
	8	Ukraine (UKR)	Olesya Povh, Nataliya Pohrebnyak, Mariya Ryemyen, Hrystyna Stuy	42.51	SB
4	5	France (FRA)	Myriam Soumaré, Céline Distel, Lina Jacques-Sébastien, Véronique Mang	42.70
5	1	Russia (RUS)	Yuliya Gushchina, Natalia Rusakova, Elizabeta Savlinis, Aleksandra Fedoriva	42.93
6	7	Nigeria (NGR)	Gloria Asumnu, Oludamola Osayomi, Agnes Osazuwa, Blessing Okagbare	42.93
7	2	Brazil (BRA)	Ana Cláudia Lemos Silva, Vanda Gomes, Franciela Krasucki, Rosângela Santos	43.10
	3	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	Kai Selvon, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, Michelle-Lee Ahye	(42.58)	Semoy Hackett's Drug Test

• Relay results at IAAF website