By Andy Schooler, Sportinglife.com

The Great Britain 4x400m men's team did well to come through a tough heat and qualify for Sunday's final.

In what has been an historically strong event for Team GB, the team of Mark Hylton, Iwan Thomas, Tim Benjamin and Mark Richardson faced a tough challenge as they lined up against the USA, Germany and Spain.

After the first two legs, Britain were trailing in fourth, but a fine run from Benjamin pulled the team back into contention as he closed the gap on the Germans and the Spaniards.

It was left to Richardson to come past both teams in the final straight as Britain qualified in 3.00.96. The US won the heat with anchor man Derrick Brew easing down in 3.00.07.

Richardson said: “I'm really pleased with the way the team performed. On paper we should have struggled today.”

They were the fastest qualifiers while Brazil and the Bahamas, with individual gold medallist Avard Moncur, also heat winners.

Jamaica, who finished second in Brazil's heat, were later disqualified for running out of their lane.