USA qualifies for four Olympic track and field relays on first day of World Athletics Relay

The US track and field team qualified for four Olympic relays – the men’s and women’s 4x100m, women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m – placing in the top two heats of the first round at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas on Saturday.

Noah Lyles, who swept the 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold medals at last August’s world championships, anchored the U.S. men’s 4x100m to win his heat, advancing to Sunday’s final, where results determine ties at the Paris Olympics .

Gabby Thomas, a member of the North American women’s 4x100m team that won gold at the World Championships last August, was also part of the North American quartet that won the 4x100m heat on Saturday.

The USA also won heats in the women’s 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m. The US men’s 4x400m crossed the finish line first, but was later disqualified due to a rule that World Athletics lists as “switching positions before taking over”.

WORLD RELAYS: Full results

The US men’s 4x400m can still qualify for the Olympics by finishing in the top two in the repechage round on Sunday or by being one of the top two nations not yet qualified in the world rankings on June 30. World Championships are won with the fastest time in the world during the Olympic qualification window.

The U.S. has competed in every relay in Olympic history except the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games, and has the most relay medals and gold medals.

The Americans who make up the Paris Olympic relay groups will be determined by individual 100m and 400m results at the Olympic Trials June 21-30 in Eugene, Oregon.

At the Tokyo Games, the USA won 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 US men’s 4x100m were eliminated in the first round in Tokyo and last won Olympic gold in 2000.

In total, 16 nations will qualify for each relay at the Paris Olympics. The top eight by relay qualified on Saturday. Six more will qualify in Sunday’s repechage rounds for each relay. Then, the bottom two of each event will qualify based on the world rankings on June 30th.

Jamaica, which is traditionally the USA’s main relay rival, qualified for the Olympic men’s 4x100m on Saturday.

Jamaica placed third in the men’s, women’s and mixed 4x400m heats and fifth in the women’s 4x100m heat without stars Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson.

Jamaica won silver in the women’s 4x100m at last August’s world championships, all but guaranteeing that they would qualify for the Olympic women’s 4x100m via the world rankings if they failed to secure a place in the World Relays.

The World Athletics Relays conclude Sunday with live finals starting at 7 p.m. ET on CNBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Peacock.