China's Su Bingtian, Xu Zhouzheng, Wu Zhiqiang and Xie Zhenye finished third in their men's 4x100m relay heat at the 2019 IAAF World Championships and set a new national record to reach the final.

China's squad was led by Su who won a silver medal in the 2015 World Championships, and finished fourth two years ago in London. 

Su was in lane 9, and the current 100m Asian record-holder gave China a good start before handing over to his teammate Xu. 

He maintained their pace and then passed the baton to Wu for the third leg before it was given to Xie for the final stretch.

Akani Simbine went on to cross first for South Africa while Xie bursted past Mouhamadou Fall of France to finish third. China were into the final and their time of 37:39 seconds broke the national record of 37:82 from the 2016 Rio Olympics. 

The celebration continued in the women's 4x100m relay, as China's women's team consists of Liang Xiaojing, Wei Yongli, Kong Lingwei and Ge Manqi, also successfully secured a spot in the final.

Liang started in lane 6, and she got China off on the right foot by handing over to Wei in third place.

The four Chinese ladies claimed the title in this event at the Asian Championships this April. Kong sped up around the corner and then made a clean exchange of the baton to Ge for the final leg.

Ge was part of the breakaway trio and went to finish third in a time of 42:36 seconds. China reached their first final since 1997, and their success meant China's men's and women's teams were both in the final for the first time ever.