4x100 exchange zone, 30 meters
Since the 2018 rule change, the 4x100 exchange zone is 30 meters total, starting 20m before the next leg's start line and ending 10m after. The baton must pass within those 30m. Acceleration zone removed.
The relay baton pass zone is the most-rules-bound piece of track and field. Get it wrong and the team is disqualified. Below: the exact zone distances for 4x100 and 4x400, what counts as a legal exchange, what causes a DQ, and how teams use the full zone for stick speed.
Since the 2018 rule change, the 4x100 exchange zone is 30 meters total, starting 20m before the next leg's start line and ending 10m after. The baton must pass within those 30m. Acceleration zone removed.
Standard 20m exchange zone, centered on the start line of the next leg. Visual exchange is the norm; runners cross zone lines to ensure the pass happens inside.
Most relay DQs: pass outside the zone, dropped baton recovered by wrong runner, lane infraction by the outgoing runner. All preventable with practice.
Most teams lose more time to bad zone use than to slow legs. Film the exchange zone side-on, AI grades where in the zone the stick passed and the speed differential between incoming and outgoing runners. Teams that exchange at the end of the zone with matched speeds run the fastest 4x100s.
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