AP Photo/Martin Meissner
The U.S. women are through to Saturday night's final in the 4x400-meter relay.
The Americans made it look easy in their heat Friday night at Olympic Stadium, winning by more than 3 seconds over second-place Ukraine. Courtney Okolo ran the first leg, followed by Taylor Ellis-Watson, Francena McCorory and Phyllis Francis.
#TeamUSA (Okolo --> Ellis-Watson --> McCorory --> Francis) with an easy W (3:21.42) in qualifying for the 4x400m relay. #Rio2016
— USATF (@usatf) August 19, 2016
The U.S. finished in 3:21.42, about a second faster than Jamaica _ which won the second heat.
The @usatf women's 4x400 relay team has qualified for the FINAL! pic.twitter.com/GWCZCEqy0V
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) August 19, 2016
So the field for the final: the U.S., Jamaica, Ukraine, Britain, Canada, Italy (which set a national record), Poland and Australia. Bahamas and the Netherlands both also set national marks but neither made the final _ so the record likely wasn't much of a consolation prize.
In the men's heats, also Friday night, the U.S. was second to Jamaica in the opening run _ also advancing to the final on Saturday night.