| Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| 1 | | Marlon Ramsey, Derek Mills, Kevin Lyles, Darnell Hall | 2:58.23 | |
| 1 | | Michael McDonald, Davian Clarke, Dennis Blake, Danny McFarlane | 2:58.29 | |
| 1 | | Uwe Jahn, Karsten Just, Kai Karsten, Rico Lieder | 3:00.25 | |
| 2 | | Samson Kitur, Abednego Matilu, Julius Chepkwony, Charles Gitonga | 3:00.81 | |
| 3 | | Udeme Ekpeyong, Jude Monye, Kunle Adejuyigbe, Sunday Bada | 3:00.81 | |
| 3 | | David McKenzie, Adrian Patrick, Mark Hylton, Mark Richardson | 3:01.22 | |
| 3 | | Piotr Rysiukiewicz, Paweł Januszewski, Robert Maćkowiak, Tomasz Jędrusik | 3:01.38 | |
| 1 | | Shunji Karube, Yoshihiko Saito, Kazuhiko Yamazaki, Masayoshi Kan | 3:01.46 | |
| 3 | | Hermanus de Jager, Arnaud Malherbe, Riaan Dempers, Bobang Phiri | 3:01.51 | |
| 10 | 2 | | Iván García, Jorge Crusellas, Omar Mena, Norberto Téllez | 3:01.82 | |
| 11 | 1 | | Marco Vaccari, Laurent Ottoz, Alessandro Aimar, Andrea Nuti | 3:02.01 | |
| 12 | 1 | | Troy McIntosh, Dennis Darling, Timothy Munnings, Carl Oliver | 3:02.85 | |
| 13 | 2 | | Rohan Robinson, Michael Joubert, Mark Ladbrook, Paul Greene | 3:03.07 | |
| 14 | 2 | | Laurent Clerc, Kevin Widmer, Alain Rohr, Matthias Rusterholz | 3:03.91 | |
| 15 | 3 | | Arnold Payne, Savieri Ngidhi, Tawanda Chiwira, Ken Harnden | 3:03.91 | |
| 16 | 2 | | Moustapha Diarra, Ibrahima Wade, Ibou Faye, Hachim Ndiaye | 3:05.15 | |
| 17 | 3 | | Callum Taylor, Nick Cowan, Mark Wilson, Robert Hanna | 3:06.39 | |
| 18 | 1 | | Alejandro Cárdenas, Juan Vallin, Alberto Araujo, Raymundo Escalante | 3:07.22 | |
| 19 | 2 | | Jacques Farraudiere, Pierre-Marie Hilaire, Marc Foucan, Jean-Louis Rapnouil | 3:09.46 | |
| 2 | | Salah Al-Nassri, Mohammed Al-Bishi, Hashim Al-Sharfa, Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily | | |
| 3 | | | | |
