As the aim in the 4x100m relay is to move the baton around the track in the shortest possible time, improving the sprinting ability of the individual team members is the most obvious way to achieve better overall results. But there are additional strategies for maximising the performance potential of any quartet. Following the successes of the Japanese men in the event at the 2016 Olympic Games and 2017 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, where they took silver and bronze medals respectively, innovative ideas for transferring the baton between runners without loss of velocity, some of which were employed by the team and others, some of which were used by top coaches in Japan, could be of interest to coaches around the world. The authors make the case for the upsweep exchange, explaining how the team's coaches made the decision to switch from the more commonly used downsweep and then describing the key elements of the technique. They find the upsweep enables more reliable passes, does not hinder natural arm motion and does not reduce running velocity. They conclude by outlining ideas for reducing take-over zone time, reducing segment time for each runner and eliminating mistakes in the baton exchange.
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