Olympic champions U.S. lead the way in women's 4x100m relay heats

Athletics - World Athletics Championships - Women's 4x400 Metres Relay Heat 1 - London Stadium, London, Britain – August 11, 2017. Madiea Ghafoor of Netherlands drops the baton during the race. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States ate up the track to run a world leading time in the women's 4x100 metres relay heats at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.

The Olympic champions, featuring Aaliyah Brown, Allyson Felix, Morolake Akinosun and Ariana Washington, won the opening heat in a time of 41.84 seconds, challenged only by the British quartet who came second in 41.93.

Athletics - World Athletics Championships - Women's 4x400 Metres Relay Heat 1 - London Stadium, London, Britain – August 11, 2017. Madiea Ghafoor of Netherlands drops the baton during the race. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

The third automatic qualifiers were Switzerland, who ran a national record time of 42.50, pointing to a high calibre final later on Saturday.

Jamaica, the defending champions, were missing seven-times world championship gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, but still qualified second fastest in the final heat ahead of Brazil. Germany won the second heat in 42.34.

Completing the final lineup were the Netherlands, featuring twice 200m champion Dafne Schippers, and 2015 bronze medallists Trinidad and Tobago.

Athletics - World Athletics Championships - Women's 4x400 Metres Relay Heat 1 - London Stadium, London, Britain – August 11, 2017. Jisna Mathew of India gives the baton to Poovamma Raju Machettira of India during the race. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

(Reporting by Christian Radnedge; Editing by Toby Davis)