The 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Stadio Olimpico on September 5 and September 6.
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
Existing records at the start of the event.
All times shown are in seconds.
AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season) DNS = did not start | DQ = disqualification | NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result) | Q = qualification by place in heat | q = qualification by overall place
Rank Team Name Result Notes United States Lee McRae , Lee McNeill , Harvey Glance , Carl Lewis 37.90 Soviet Union Aleksandr Yevgenyev , Viktor Bryzgin , Vladimir Muravyov , Vladimir Krylov 38.02 AR Jamaica John Mair , Andrew Smith , Clive Wright , Ray Stewart 38.41 4 Canada Ben Johnson , Atlee Mahorn , Desai Williams , Mike Dwyer ) 38.47 5 West Germany Fritz Heer , Volker Westhagemann , Christian Haas , Norbert Dobeleit ) 38.73 6 Hungary István Nagy , László Karaffa , István Tatár , Attila Kovács 39.04 7 Italy Ezio Madonia , Domenico Gorla , Paolo Catalano , Pierfrancesco Pavoni 39.62 8 China Li Tao , Cai Jianming , Li Feng , Zheng Chen 39.93
Rank Team Name Result Notes 1 Soviet Union Aleksandr Yevgenyev , Viktor Bryzgin , Vladimir Muravyov , Vladimir Krylov 38.29 Q 2 Canada Ben Johnson , Atlee Mahorn , Desai Williams , Mike Dwyer 38.50 Q 3 West Germany Fritz Heer , Volker Westhagemann , Christian Haas , Norbert Dobeleit 38.84 Q 4 Italy Ezio Madonia , Stefano Tilli , Paolo Catalano , Pierfrancesco Pavoni 39.52 Q 5 Japan Kaoru Matsubara , Hirohisa Ota , Masahiro Nagura , Hiroki Fuwa 39.71 6 Spain Miguel Ángel García , Juan José Prado , Angel Heras , José Javier Arqués 39.74 7 Ghana John Myles-Mills , Emmanuel Tuffour , Salaam Gariba , Eric Akogyiram 39.94 8 Senegal Charles-Louis Seck , Hamidou Diawara , Joseph Dias , Amadou Mbaye 40.22
Rank Team Name Result Notes 1 United States Lee McRae , Lee McNeill , Harvey Glance , Dennis Mitchell 38.33 Q 2 Jamaica John Mair , Andrew Smith , Clive Wright , Ray Stewart 38.66 Q 3 Hungary István Nagy , László Karaffa , István Tatár , Attila Kovács 38.78 Q 4 China Li Tao , Cai Jianming , Li Feng , Zheng Chen 39.05 AR Q 5 Cuba Ricardo Chacon , Leandro Peñalver , Sergio Querol , Andrés Simón 39.08 6 Brazil Joilto Bonfim , Carlos de Oliveira , Arnaldo de Oliveira Silva , Robson da Silva 39.22 7 Chinese Taipei Lai Cheng-Chuan , Lee Shiun-Long , Chang Yih-Yuan , Cheng Hsin-Fu 39.90 8 Portugal Arnaldo Abrantes , Pedro Curvelo , Luís Cunha , Luís Barroso 40.24
Rank Country Name Result Notes 1 United States Lee McRae , Lee McNeill , Harvey Glance , Dennis Mitchell 38.80 Q 2 Hungary István Nagy , László Karaffa , István Tatár , Attila Kovács 39.11 Q 3 Japan Kaoru Matsubara , Hirohisa Ota , Masahiro Nagura , Hiroki Fuwa 39.49 Q 4 China Li Tao , Cai Jianming , Li Feng , Zheng Chen 39.63 Q 5 Spain Enrique Talavera , Juan José Prado , Miguel Ángel García , José Javier Arqués 40.20 q 6 Uganda Moses Musonge , Joseph Ssali , Sunday Olweny , Edward Bitoga 40.22 ** Great Britain Lincoln Asquith , John Regis , Mike McFarlane , Clarence Callender DQ
Rank Country Name Result Notes 1 Soviet Union Aleksandr Yevgenyev , Viktor Bryzgin , Vladimir Muravyov , Andrey Fedoriv 38.98 Q 2 West Germany Fritz Heer , Volker Westhagemann , Christian Haas , Norbert Dobeleit 39.10 Q 3 Brazil Joilto Bonfim , Carlos de Oliveira , Arnaldo de Oliveira Silva , Robson da Silva 39.57 Q 4 Italy Ezio Madonia , Stefano Tilli , Paolo Catalano , Pierfrancesco Pavoni 39.58 Q 5 Ghana John Myles-Mills , Emmanuel Tuffour , Salaam Gariba , Eric Akogyiram 39.77 q 6 Chinese Taipei Lai Cheng-Chuan , Lee Shiun-Long , Chang Yih-Yuan , Cheng Hsin-Fu 40.05 q
Rank Team Name Result Notes 1 Canada Ben Johnson , Atlee Mahorn , Desai Williams , Mike Dwyer 38.76 Q 2 Jamaica John Mair , Andrew Smith , Clive Wright , Ray Stewart 38.88 Q 3 Cuba Ricardo Chacon , Leandro Peñalver , Sergio Querol , Andrés Simón 39.44 Q 4 Senegal Charles-Louis Seck , Hamidou Diawara , Joseph Dias , Amadou Mbaye 39.83 Q 5 Portugal Arnaldo Abrantes , Pedro Curvelo , Luís Cunha , Luís Barroso 40.10 q ** Nigeria Augustine Olobia , Patrick Nwankwo , Innocent Egbunike , Chidi Imoh DNS