Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
1 | 3 | Australia | Paul Henderson, Tim Jackson, Steve Brimacombe, Damien Marsh | 38.28 | Q, AR |
2 | 1 | Canada | Robert Esmie, Glenroy Gilbert, Bruny Surin, Donovan Bailey | 38.38 | Q |
3 | 2 | Sweden | Peter Karlsson, Matias Ghansah, Lars Hedner, Tobias Karlsson | 38.74 | Q, NR |
4 | 1 | Japan | Hisatsugu Suzuki, Koji Ito, Satoru Inoue, Yoshitaka Ito | 38.79 | Q |
5 | 3 | China | Li Xiaoping, Lin Wei, Huang Danwei, Chen Wenzhong | 38.81 | Q, NR |
6 | 2 | France | Olivier Theophile, Sebastien Carrat, Jean-Charles Trouabal, Pascal Theophile | 38.82 | Q |
7 | 1 | Brazil | André da Silva, Sidnei Telles, Édson Ribeiro, Robson da Silva | 38.85 | Q, AR |
8 | 3 | Jamaica | Leon Gordon, Michael Green, Warren Johnson, Raymond Stewart | 38.92 | Q |
9 | 4 | Italy | Giovanni Puggioni, Ezio Madonia, Angelo Cipolloni, Sandro Floris | 39.00 | Q |
10 | 1 | Russia | Pavel Galkin, Aleksandr Sokolov, Andrey Grigoryev, Andrey Fedoriv | 39.03 | q |
11 | 1 | Germany | Marc Blume, Robert Kurnicki, Christian Konieczny, Michael Huke | 39.06 | q |
12 | 4 | Great Britain | Jason Gardener, Darren Braithwaite, John Regis, Solomon Wariso | 39.07 | Q |
13 | 3 | Ivory Coast | Ahmed Douhou, Jean-Olivier Zirignon, Eric Pacome, Ibrahim Meité | 39.29 | q |
14 | 4 | Ukraine | Aleksey Chikhachov, Dmitriy Vanyaikin, Oleh Kramarenko, Serhiy Osovych | 39.31 | Q |
15 | 2 | Spain | Frutos Feo, Francisco Javier Navarro, Jordi Mayoral, Pedro Pablo Nolet | 39.35 | Q |
16 | 2 | Bahamas | Renward Wells, Brian Babbs, Andrew Tynes, Alfred Stubbs | 39.37 | q |
17 | 1 | Togo | Teko Folligan, Menelik Lawson, Franck Amegnigan, Kossi Akoto | 39.45 | NR |
18 | 4 | Mexico | Carlos Villaseñor, Alejandro Cárdenas, Genaro Rojas, Jaime Barragán | 39.66 | |
19 | 3 | Barbados | Garfield Gill, Jason St. Hill, Achebe Hope, Obadele Thompson | 39.68 | |
20 | 4 | New Zealand | Laud Codjoe, Mark Keddell, Chris Donaldson, Augustine Nketia | 39.70 | |
21 | 2 | Ghana | Duah Abu, Aziz Zakari, Eric Nkansah, Emmanuel Tuffour | 39.83 | |
22 | 3 | Trinidad and Tobago | Alvin Daniel, Patrick Delice, Neil de Silva, Hayden Stephen | 40.09 | |
23 | 4 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Ricardo Liddie, Eric Haynes, Kim Collins, Kurvin Wallace | 40.12 | NR |
24 | 1 | Cameroon | Issa-Aime Nthepe, Benjamin Sirimou, Samuel Nchinda, Pierre Makon | 40.72 | NR |
— | 2 | Cuba | Leonardo Prevost, Joel Lamela, Joel Isasi, Jorge Aguilera | DQ | |
— | 2 | Saudi Arabia | Mohamed Al-Bishi, Mohammed Al Masoud, Mohammad Saif, Jamal Al-Safar | DQ | |
— | 4 | Greece | Alexandros Genovelis, Alexandros Alexopoulos, Georgios Panagiotopoulos, Alexandros Terzian | DQ | |
— | 3 | United States | Maurice Greene, Jon Drummond, Tony McCall, Michael Marsh | DNF | |