system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: The world record for the men's 100m is 9.58s. However, the world record for the 4x100m relay is 36.84s, an average of 9.21s per leg. How is this possible?

This is really confusing me. Either they're running at superhuman speeds in the relay, or I'm missing something about the way these races are run.
gpt
The 100 is a very short race and it has a standing start, so a large portion f the total race time is spent getting up to speed. In the 4x100 only one of the 4 runners has a standing start, the rest are handed the baton at as close to full speed as possible. So the standing start is less of the total time.

If you wanted direct comparison you could look at the first split in the relay. That includes the standing start; you would find it's slower than the 100 runners since you want your fastest sprinter anchoring.