2013 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
The men's 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 15–16 August.
The United States dominated, taking the lead from the start and never looking back, but not with the overwhelming show of force of some past championships. David Verburg passed first to silver medalist Tony McQuay who broke first and stayed out of traffic. Behind them, the race was quite competitive, with Russia's Maksim Dyldin closing the first lap in a rush then Lev Mosin running a strong curve to close off the break. Great Britain's Martyn Rooney had to go wide around the turn to pass the Russians, only to be passed himself by Belgium's Kevin Borlée. After Jonathan had led off, he passed to a third Borlée, Dylan. The team of brothers pulled to within two meters of the leading Americans with 500 meters to go, but then the gap widened to five meters. With gold medalist LaShawn Merritt pulling away, Russia's Vladimir Krasnov quickly passed Belgium's Will Owoye at the handoff. Down the backstretch Jamaica's Javon Francis passed Great Britain, Belgium and Russia to move into second. Krasnov came back but Francis held him off at the line to take silver.
Records
Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:| World record | 2:54.29 |  Stuttgart, Germany | 22 August 1993 | |
| Championship record | 2:54.29 | Stuttgart, Germany | 22 August 1993 | |
| World Leading | | 3:00.91 |  Philadelphia, PA, United States | 27 April 2013 |
| African Record | 2:58.68 |  Sydney, Australia | 30 September 2000 | |
| Asian Record | 3:00.76 | Atlanta, GA, United States | 3 August 1996 | |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | 2:54.29 | Stuttgart, Germany | 22 August 1993 | |
| South American Record | 2:58.56 |  Winnipeg, Canada | 30 July 1999 | |
| European Record | 2:56.60 | Atlanta, GA, United States | 3 August 1996 | |
| Oceanian record | 2:59.70 | Los Angeles, CA, United States | 11 August 1984 |
Qualification standards
Schedule
Results
Heats
Qualification: First 2 of each heat plus the 2 fastest times advanced to the [|final].Final
The final was started at 21:30.| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
| 5 | David Verburg, Tony McQuay, Arman Hall, LaShawn Merritt | 2:58.71 | WL | ||
| 4 | Rusheen McDonald, Edino Steele, Omar Johnson, Javon Francis | 2:59.88 | SB | ||
| DQ | 6 | Maksim Dyldin, Lev Mosin, Sergey Petukhov, Vladimir Krasnov | SB | ||
| 3 | 7 | Conrad Williams, Martyn Rooney, Michael Bingham, Nigel Levine | 3:00.88 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Jonathan Borlée, Kevin Borlée, Dylan Borlée, Will Owoye | 3:01.02 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Renny Quow, Lalonde Gordon, Jehue Gordon, Jarrin Solomon | 3:01.74 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Pedro Luiz de Oliveira, Wagner Cardoso, Anderson Henriques, Hugo de Sousa | 3:02.19 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Steven Solomon, Alexander Beck, Craig Burns, Tristan Thomas | 3:02.26 | SB |