BEIJING, China (Xinhua) — Chinese male runners yesterday broke into the World Championships 4x100m relay final after

28-year and set an Asian record.

In the 4x100m heats, the Chinese relay team, consisting of Su Bingtian, Zhang Peimeng, Xie Zhenye, and Mo Youxue, finished fourth in 37.92 seconds, shaving 0.07 off their previous Asian best, set in the Asian Games last year, to qualify for the World Championships final for the first time.

Defending champion Jamaica was first in the heats in 37.41 seconds, while France, the United States, Antigua & Barbuda, Canada, Britain, and Germany entered this evening’s final.

In 2013 Moscow World Championships, China finished a distant 16th in the heats. Last time a Chinese team appeared in the final was in 1987 in Rome, Italy, when they finished eighth in 39.93 seconds, and the United States took gold in 37.90.

“The atmosphere here in the stadium was great today and that helped us to perform as well as we did,” said Zhang who ran the fourth leg.

Su, who became the first Chinese to run the

blue-ribbon 100m final at

the World Championships

on Sunday last, believes

they could do even better in the final.

“I think our team performed overall was good, but there is still room for improvement. So hopefully in the final we can give a better performance and it should be possible to be stronger in the evening,” said the 26-year-old.