The India men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams qualified for Paris Olympics after finishing second in their respective second-round heats at the World Athletics Relays here on Monday.

In the women’s competition, the quartet of Rupal Chaudhary, M R Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3 minutes and 29.35 seconds to finish second behind Jamaica (3:28.54) in heat No.1 to book a Paris Games ticket.

Later, the men’s squad of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob finished with a collective timing of 3 minutes and 3.23 seconds to also finish second in their heat, behind the US (2:59.95).

The top two teams in each of the three heats in the second round were to qualify for the Paris Olympics to be held from July 26 to August 11.

It was a pleasant surprise that the women qualified as the focus was more on the men’s team which has broken the Asian record in back-to-back global events — Tokyo Olympics and 2023 World Championships — as well as winning 2023 Asian Games gold. The India women had finished fifth in the first-round qualifying heat on Sunday with a time of 3 minutes and 29.74 seconds.

The men’s team had failed to finish in the first-round qualifying heat after second-leg runner Rajesh Ramesh pulled out midway due to cramps. Arokia Rajiv took the place of Ramesh in the team and he ran the third leg after Anas and Ajmal.

The men were third when anchor-leg runner Jacob took the baton from Arokia. The Delhi boy ran a fantastic race to overtake his Mexican opponent and finish second.

India pulled out of the mixed 4x400m relay second round heat races on Monday.