Never really paid attention to the exchange zone set-up of the 4x200 that much, but noticed today that with a two turn stagger hand-offs seem a mess. Is it more common to use a three turn stagger?
Athletes making up the stagger in the outside lanes, during first lap, were slamming in to people trying to get in to lane one before the turn - it seemed like running a three turn stagger and allowing the break on a straight-away (especially at that speed) is safer and would be the common practice.
Also, officials were not allowing those waiting to take the baton move as athletes passed one another as they came off the turn (after the first exchange). So a kid that moved from 3rd to 1st coming off the turn had to then look across the runners waiting for the batons and run out in to lane 2 or 3 to make the exchange.
I hate to admit I was watching this at a college meet.