US and Italy gear up for men's relay showdown

World sprint champion Noah Lyles and reigning Olympic 100m gold medallist Marcell Jacobs on May 4 helped the United States and Italy respectively qualify for the 4x100m relays at the Paris Olympics.

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Drawn in the same heat at the World Athletics Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, Lyles anchored the US quartet consisting of Courtney Lindsey, Kenneth Bednarek and Kyree King to victory in 37.49 seconds.

Jacobs ran the second leg for the Italians, the defending world relay and Olympic champions coming in 0.65sec behind the Americans in a high-octane session featuring a galaxy of track stars at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.

Also qualifying for Paris and a place in the final on May 5 were Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse's Canada, Japan, China, France, Britain and Jamaica.

"In Oregon (in 2022 when the US won world silver), I was on the second leg, that's what I did in high school a lot. It was all right, but it's nowhere near as fun as running across the line and putting the USA front and centre," Lyles said.

"I can't wait until the night for the moment when we cross the line first," he added in response to the Italian team saying they had a good chance to have the edge on the Americans in Paris.

Jacobs was left more than pleased with his leg.