Dropping the baton at 4x100 is bad enough... but dropping it in 4x400 is laughable

I agree.  The baton exchange is rather important in the relay.  You'd think they might practice it somewhat.

Pressure does strange things sometimes.  I've practised loading the dishwasher with glasses 1,000s of times.  But today trying to do it quickly, whilst cooking brunch and keen to stir the beans before they stuck to the pan, I managed to get my angles wrong and smash the glass on the edge of the hard top.

Your hands become rigid and just don't work properly.
I used to play cricket from the age of 9-16 (gave it up for booze and birds) and was ok played up to the best of the league standard for Tyneside against County players U13/U15 and up to first team all age.
I only ever dropped 2 catches in my life can remember them now but each time they were very easy and it was through pressure only at them being so easy my hands were just like concrete,very strange what tricks the mind and body play with applied pressure.

I used to play cricket form the age 9-16 (gave it up for booze and birds) oh dear Denzil  you do disappoint me

You are dead right though, pressure counts for a lot, some handle it better than others, even though they have the same ability

They need a bunch of chaps who are used to reaching round under pressure imo.

They need some decent 400m runners as well

Been a good few championships since we had a good old patent GB relay balls-up.

At least Martin Rooney wasn't involved this time

First rule of relay racing. Don't check out your teammates ass when handing over the baton.

It is pretty poor to drop the baton in a 4 x 400 metres relay tbh

They had a really poor team this year so would probably have been last anyway.
If you watched Doha, did you wonder as I did whether those big air ducts could be swivelled to produce a following wind the whole way round? Not saying they did but it was technically possible and somebody will be doing it before long.