) | ||
| Track events | ||
|---|---|---|
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | women |
| 3000 m | women | |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | women |
| 100 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | women |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | women |
| 10 km walk | women | |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Combined events | ||
| Heptathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
The 4 x 100 metres relay at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Stadio Olimpico on September 5 and September 6.
Medals
| Gold: | Silver: | Bronze: |
 United StatesLee McRae Lee McNeill Harvey Glance Carl Lewis Dennis Mitchell* |  Soviet UnionAleksandr Yevgenyev Viktor Bryzgin Vladimir Muravyov Vladimir Krylov Andrey Fedoriv* |  JamaicaJohn Mair Andrew Smith Clive Wright Ray Stewart |
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
Records
Existing records at the start of the event.
| World Record | United States (USA) | 37.83 | Los Angeles, USA | August 11, 1984 |
| Championship Record | United States (USA) | 37.86 | Helsinki, Finland | August 10, 1983 |
Results
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 |
Final
| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
){kind=icon} | United States | Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, Harvey Glance, Carl Lewis | 37.90 | |
){kind=icon} | Soviet Union | Aleksandr Yevgenyev, Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Muravyov, Vladimir Krylov | 38.02 | AR |
){kind=icon} | Jamaica | John Mair, Andrew Smith, Clive Wright, Ray Stewart | 38.41 | |
| 4 | .svg.png){kind=small} 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 |
Semi-finals
Heat 1
| 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 |
Heat 2
| 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 | .svg.png){kind=small} 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 |
Heats
Heat 1
| 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 |
Heat 2
| 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 |
Heat 3
| 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 |