Elite American high school teams like Long Beach Poly, where Bryshon Nellum attended, would have been taught how to deal with handoff traffic and Botswana should have qualified.

In the finals, the first legs between Trinidad and Tobago (Renny Quow), Great Britain (Rabah Yousif) and USA (David Verburg) were relatively close, exchanging in that order.

American Tony McQuay sped around the turn before the break and got enough of a lead to shut the door on the other teams, gaining a couple of metres as they dropped back to regroup and try to pass.

Lalonde Gordon was able to put T&T slightly ahead at the handoff with a gap back to Great Britain and France, with Jamaica a few steps further behind.

On the front, Deon Lendore, chased by Nellum stayed relatively even, with 400 finalist Machel Cedenio taking the baton ahead of 400 silver medalist LaShawn Merritt.