The 4 × 400 metres relay at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Stadio Olimpico on September 5 and September 6.
Existing records at the start of the event.
| World Record | 2:56.16 | Mexico City, Mexico | October 20, 1968 | ||
| Championship Record | 3:00.79 | Helsinki, Finland | August 14, 1983 |
All times shown are in seconds.
| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2:57.29 | ||||
| Derek Redmond, Kriss Akabusi, Roger Black, Philip Brown) | 2:58.86 | ||||
 | 2:59.16 | ||||
| 4 | Norbert Dobeleit, Mark Henrich, Edgar Itt, Harald Schmid | 2:59.96 | |||
| 5 |  | 3:01.67 | |||
| 6 |  | 3:04.53 | |||
| Yevgeniy Lomtyev, Vladimir Prosin, Aleksandr Kurochkin, Vladimir Krylov | DNF | ||||
 | Moses Ugbisie, Joseph Falaye, Henry Amike, Innocent Egbunike | DNS |
| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Leandro Peñalver, Agustin Pavó, Lázaro Martínez, Roberto Hernández | 3:00.99 | Q | |
| 2 | Mark Thomas, Kriss Akabusi, Todd Bennett, Philip Brown | 3:01.47 | Q | ||
| 3 | Arkadiy Kornilov, Yevgeniy Lomtyev, Vladimir Prosin, Aleksandr Kurochkin | 3:01.61 | Q | ||
| 4 | | Moses Ugbisie, Joseph Falaye, Henry Amike, Innocent Egbunike | 3:01.92 | Q | |
| 5 |  | Andre Smith, Courtney Brown, John Graham, Anton Skerritt | 3:02.90 | ||
| 6 |  | Aldo Canti, Jean-Jacques Boussemart, Patrick Barré, Yann Quentrec | 3:03.41 | ||
| 7 |  | Koichi Konakatomi, Kenji Yamauchi, Hiromi Kawasumi, Susumu Takano | 3:04.86 | ||
| 8 |  | Cayetano Cornet, Antonio Sánchez, José Alonso, Angel Heras | 3:06.41 |
| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Danny Everett, Michael Franks, Raymond Pierre, Antonio McKay | 2:59.06 | Q | |
| 2 | | Joseph Sainah, Elijah Bitok, David Kitur, John Anzrah | 3:00.73 | Q | |
| 3 | | Mark Senior, Devon Morris, Winthrop Graham, Bert Cameron | 3:01.08 | Q | |
| 4 | 3:01.18 | Q | |||
| 5 | Branislav Karaulić, Slobodan Popović, Slobodan Branković, Ismail Mačev | 3:03.30 | |||
| 6 |  | 3:03.91 | |||
| 7 |  | Robert Stone, Gary Minihan, Peter Stubbs, Darren Clark | 3:04.59 | ||
| Jens Carlowitz, Frank Möller, Mathias Schersing, Thomas Schönlebe | DNF |
| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Danny Everett, Michael Franks, Raymond Pierre, Antonio McKay | 3:03.00 | Q | |
| 2 | Mathias Schersing, Michael Schimmer, Jens Carlowitz, Thomas Schönlebe | 3:03.57 | Q | ||
| 3 | Branislav Karaulić, Slobodan Popović, Slobodan Branković, Ismail Mačev | 3:03.89 | Q | ||
| 4 | | Moses Ugbisie, Joseph Falaye, Henry Amike, Innocent Egbunike | 3:03.90 | Q | |
| 5 | | Andre Smith, Courtney Brown, John Graham, Anton Skerritt | 3:04.08 | q | |
| 6 | | Cayetano Cornet, Antonio Sánchez, José Alonso, Angel Heras | 3:05.02 | q | |
| 7 | Akissi Kpidi, Zongo Kuyo, Djedjemel Anatole, René Mélédjé | 3:05.34 | |||
| 8 |  | Kieran Finn, Gerry Delaney, John Barry, Peter Sinclair | 3:07.18 |
| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Joseph Sainah, Elijah Bitok, Tito Sawe, John Anzrah | 3:02.32 | Q | |
| 2 | | Leandro Peñalver, Agustin Pavó, Lázaro Martínez, Roberto Hernández | 3:02.62 | Q | |
| 3 | Arkadiy Kornilov, Yevgeniy Lomtyev, Vladimir Prosin, Aleksandr Kurochkin | 3:02.79 | Q | ||
| 4 | | Mark Senior, Devon Morris, Winthrop Graham, Bert Cameron | 3:05.11 | Q | |
| 5 | Jindrich Roun, Stanislav Navesnak, Jozef Kucej, Lubos Balosak | 3:05.44 | |||
| 6 |  | Washington Rodrigues, Sérgio Menezes, Gerson A. Souza, José Luíz Barbosa | 3:05.64 | ||
| 7 |  | Fabián Garbolino, Dardo Angerami, Luis Migueles, José María Beduino | 3:12.96 |
| Rank | Team | Name | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Thomas, Kriss Akabusi, Todd Bennett, Philip Brown | 3:03.75 | Q | ||
| 2 | | Koichi Konakatomi, Kenji Yamauchi, Hiromi Kawasumi, Susumu Takano | 3:03.86 | Q | |
| 3 | Peter Schwelm, Mark Henrich, Klaus Just, Edgar Itt | 3:03.87 | Q | ||
| 4 | | Robert Stone, Gary Minihan, Peter Stubbs, Darren Clark | 3:04.22 | Q | |
| 5 | | Marcello Pantone, Vito Petrella, Andrea Montanari, Roberto Ribaud | 3:04.64 | q | |
| 6 | | Aldo Canti, Jean-Jacques Boussemart, Patrick Barré, Yann Quentrec | 3:04.64 | q | |
| 7 | Lin Kuang-liang, Hsu Ruo-ta, Lee Shiun-long, Lin Tsai-tien | 3:11.45 |