The U.S. track and field team qualified for all five Olympic sprint relays — men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m and mixed-gender 4x400m — by placing in the top two of their first-round heats at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas on Saturday.
Noah Lyles, who swept 100m, 200m and 4x100m golds at last August’s world championships, anchored the U.S. men’s 4x100m to win their heat, advancing to Sunday’s final, where results determine lane draws at the Paris Olympics.
Gabby Thomas, part of the U.S. women’s 4x100m that took gold at last August’s worlds, was also on the U.S. quartet that won its 4x100m heat Saturday.
The U.S. also won heats in the men’s 4x400m, women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m.
WORLD RELAYS: Full Results
The U.S. has competed in every relay in Olympic history save the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games and owns the most medals and gold medals in relays.
The Americans who make up the Paris Olympic relay pools will be determined by individual 100m and 400m results at the Olympic Trials from June 21-30 in Eugene, Oregon.
At the Tokyo Games, the U.S. took gold in the men’s and women’s 4x400m, silver in the women’s 4x100m and bronze in the Olympic debut of the mixed 4x400m. The U.S. men’s 4x100m was eliminated in the first round in Tokyo and last won Olympic gold in 2000.
In total, 16 nations will qualify for each relay for the Paris Olympics. The first eight per relay qualified on Saturday. Six more will qualify from Sunday’s repechage rounds for each relay. Then the last two in each event will qualify based on world rankings on June 30.
The World Athletics Relays conclude Sunday with finals live from 7 p.m. ET on CNBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Peacock.
