Towa Uzawa sped down the final straight and held off Australia’s Rohan Browning to secure a spot for Japan in the men’s 4x100 relay final at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.

Japan finished third in its heat in 38.07 seconds to reach the final for the first time since 2019. Ghana posted a national record of 37.79 to win the heat ahead of the Netherlands, which finished in 37.95 at National Stadium.

Canada (37.85), the United States (37.98) and Germany (38.12) were the fastest three teams in Heat 1. Australia (38.21) and France (38.34) qualified with the next two fastest times.