By Alison Wildey
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States women's 4x400 meters relay team are chasing records as well as Olympic gold, DeeDee Trotter said on Friday after anchoring them to victory in their heat.
The U.S, minus Olympic 400 champion Sanya Richards-Ross, were brought home by Trotter to win their heat in three minutes 22.09 seconds.
"We have some tough legs tomorrow but we're going after some records," the individual bronze medalist told reporters.
The American and Russian quartets had pulled clear of the field by the third leg for a comfortable finish with the first three teams guaranteed a place in Saturday's final.
Russia were second and Britain, with 400 silver medalist Christine Ohuruogu on the last leg, third.
Jamaica's women also safely negotiated the heats, winning in 3:25.13 a day after the men's squad failed to qualify for their final because Jermaine Gonzales pulled up injured during the race.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)