Hi there. I apologise if this has been asked before. I did a search and found no topic on this, so here it is
There’s plenty of coaches and experts in here. My questions to you is
In 4x100 in relays, do you choose fastest 4 runners or choose sprinters with best baton passing albeit they’re not the fastest 4 runners around?
I wish to seek some expert opinion on this. Thank you 
Get the 4 fastest runners and get them to practice baton exchanges.
Agreed, take your 4 fastest guys. Baton exchanges aren’t that hard if you work on them; it’s the timing and chemistry that needs to be made with a consistent team of runners. Relay work can be included as speed work, with all the accels you’ll be doing with them.
IMO you need a mix of both. Don’t underestimate the importance of good batton changes there is lots of research to show how you can get upto 3s off the combination of your individual PBs with good batton changes. I seem to remember the French setting the record with around 2.9s faster than thier combined PBs. So it does make a difference.
good point, this is the only reason why USA dosen’t always rip up, and even gets occasionally beaten coz no other countries have sub 10 depth through 4 runners in the same way USA does.
Agreed! In high school we had noone under 11.35 FAT yet we still managed a 43.59 with solid exchanges. Plus the order makes a difference as well.
And it is probably realistic to get another 0.5s off this with even better changes. According to relay scoring tables (i’ll try and find the refernece later) 2-2.5s is good and 2.5-3s is exceptional.
Do all sprinters run turns the same? A 10.00 FAT in the open 100 who also runs a 10.5 split on the turn might not be the best choice for the relay if there are other guys who can run the turns faster.
Well then of course you have to figure out where each runner excels. A 10.00 runner on the straight might not be the best on the turn like maybe a 200m specialist who rips it up. That person would best be served on leg 2 or 4 then.
thanks for all the response …
well i came up with the topic as in my country, our national relays selection can be a bit ‘biased’ it seemed. i suspect the coach chooses the relay runners based on his preference rather than performance.
at times when we’ve the fastest four runners present (all sub11), they would still choose a eg 11.3 runner (his groomed athlete) being that as quoted by the coach “his baton passing is better”
so there’s valid reason behind the above coach decision to ignore the faster runner for the relays?
so baton passing plays a big role in time difference huh … “up to 3s off the combination of your individual PBs with good batton changes”, as quoted by TopCat
let’s say ok, given u’re a newly appointed coach here, would you choose fastest 4 or those with better baton passing?
cheers
You’d hold a squad day and choose the atheltes that seem to have the best combination of speed and understanding of the relays. Then you develop a national program from juniors upwards so that all the tallent coming through can pass correctly and have an opportunity to show thier skill in competition. Then it should just a matter of choosing the fastest runners!
Also, do not underestimate the pressure of the relay. You have to be confident in yourself and your team mates and commit to every changeover. This is something that can only come with experience. And while relays are not always “the main event” they are a good way of introducing new tallent to high class competition.
yeh, except everyone’s favourite race the mile relay
The runner raising arm behind them must focus on raising hand HIGH. They must have outstretched hands to increase surface area of target for incomming runner.
The runner passing the baton must NOT let go as soon as he places baton on to hand of next runner. He must let go when runner in front is fully grasping the baton with clenched hand.
(the incomming runner can make the mistake of believing the runner in front has “hold” of the baton as soon as baton touches his palm.)
The runner in front must be patient and wait till incomming runner reaches designated point, before outgoing runner decides to start running.
etc.
It’s pretty straight forward but an enthusiastic pumped up team can make mistakes very easy.
Two other factors I’ve seen this year, along side speed and baton ability:
Speed with the baton and ability to run out of and into the zone.
I’m working with HSers, and one of our boys must be .5 slower with the baton in his hand. He is actually good at getting and receiving the baton, but he is so focused on how he holds it that it slows him down.
Our other challenge has been getting one boy to start really hard when he is the outgoing runner and for another to not slow down as he enters the zone.
We have worked quite a bit with all three of these boys on these issues with only minimal improvement.
From this, it seems to me that there is an issue of temperament or something like that, which cannot be quantifed as simply as speed and passing mechanics.
The US National Teams’ well established expertise in getting the baton dropped when it counts speaks highly of the strategy of just picking the best 4 sprinters and not having them train together. 
I witnessed a good presentation at the Euro Federation Congress on Sprints and Hurdles in 1989 by the coach of the Soviet 4x100m mens team which won gold at Seoul. They had no finalists at 100 or 200m yet still won the relay.
I coach relays and I find that the hardest thing to correct is the incoming runner slowing down in the zone. You might try practicing without a baton and ask the outgoing runner to try to run away from the incoming one.
As for the outgoing runner not going hard enough, I have an easy solution: tell the incoming runner to hit the outgoing runner on the shoulder or head with the baton if he can. I am not kidding.