4 WR-Holders Dive into a Pool – Walk Away with Another (Women’s Medley Relay Analysis)

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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WOMEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – Finals

• World Record: 3:50.40 – USA (2019)
• Olympic Record: 3:51.60 – AUS (2021)
• 2021 Winning Time: 3:51.60 – AUS
• 2021 Time to Win Bronze: 3:52.60

Podium

1. USA (Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske) – 3:49.63 ***NEW WORLD RECORD***
2. Australia (Kaylee McKeown, Jenna Strauch, Emma McKeown, Mollie O’Callaghan)- 3:53.11
3. China (Wan Letian, Tang Qianting, Zhang Yufei, Yang Junxuan)- 3:53.23
4. Canada (Kylie Masse, Sophie Angus, Maggie MacNeil, Summer McIntosh) – 3:53.91
5. Japan (Rio Shirai, Satomi Suzuki, Mizuki Hirai, Rikako Ikee)- 3:56.17
6. France (Emma Terebo, Charlotte Bonnet, Marie Wattel, Beryl Gastaldello)- 3:56.29
7. Sweden (Hanna Rosvall, Sophie Hansson, Louise Hansson, Sarah Sjostrom) – 3:56.92
8. Netherlands (Maaike de Waard, Tes Schouten, Tess Giele, Marrit Steenbergen) – 3:59.52

Backstroke Leg

Kaylee McKeown got the better of Regan Smith in the individual 100 and 200 back, again, but put three teammates behind her, and Regan Smith turns into a different swimmer and, more often than not, has beaten the Aussie in relay lead-offs.  Out in 27.84, the only sub-28 split in the field, Smith put the Americans in the lead in just a few quick strokes, and they never looked back.

Coming home in 29.44, Smith touched in 57.28, and while it may be a little bittersweet, that time would have given Smith her first individual gold medal. Yet Smith, much like in 2019, when she led off that medley relay, exited the pool this evening with an individual record. The Olympic record this time, as opposed to the WR in 2019, as her 57.28 tonight surpassed McKeown’s days-o;d record of 57.33.

The Aussie backstroker didn’t have that poor of a swim themselves as she clocked a time of 57.72, ahead of Kylie Masse‘s 58.29.

Breaststroke Leg

Lilly King turned a lead of .44 over the Australians to 2.65 over the Canadians. King may not be happy with her individual performances, as this was the first international meet since before the 2016 Rio Games in which she did not medal in an individual event, but like Smith, King feeds on the relay atmosphere.

Her fastest individual performance of the meet was her tie for 4th place in the 100 breast (1:05.60), so her split of 1:04.90 was mightily impressive, especially considering it was just .09 slower than her split from the 2019 World record-setting relay.

King wasn’t the only swimmer who used this relay as an opportunity to prove that they still have it as 33-year-old Satomi Suzuki, a three-time Olympic medalist from 2012, recorded the second fastest split in the field of 1:05.08. Not only was this time light years ahead of the 1:06.90 she swam in the 100 breast semis (12th), but it was also nearly a full second faster than the 1:05.86 she split in 2012 to win the Olympic bronze in this event.

Tang Quanting was slower than her silver medal-winning performance, but had started to cut into the lead of the Australians and Canadians after having started over a second behind both teams (two, in fact, behind the Aussies)

Butterfly Leg

Over two seconds ahead of the field, Gretchen Walsh dove into the water with a .2-second lead over the dread World Record line. Walsh, the World record holder in this individual event and the silver medalist, took it out fast (fast might not be the correct word) as her opening 50 of 25.09 was faster than half the opening 50s for the freestyle legs (seriously).

Employing great underwater, Walsh surged down the back half and touched in 55.03, equalling with the great Sarah Sjostrom as the fastest 100 fly split ever and opening up an insurmountable lead of 3.41 seconds on the Canadians, who remained in 2nd place after a strong showing by Maggie MacNeil who split 55.79 with a legal reaction time of -.02,

China’s Zhang Yufei pulled the Chinese past the Australian with her 55.52 split, bringing them to within half a second of the Canadians.

Freestyle Leg

Torri Huske‘s 52.42 split, when compared to her 52.06 from earlier in the week or the mixed medley sub-52 performance (51.88) is rather lackluster, but when compared to the 52.93 she qualified for the team for, the 52.42 would make anyone happy and when out in front of the field by over three seconds its hard to gauge one’s speed, but with a lead of 1.33 over the World record line, Huske did her part and helped the US knock .77 off the record.

Trailing the Chinese by .16 and the Canadians by .66, Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghen posted the fastest first 50 of 24.82 and the fastest second 50 of 27.01 to surge past both of the teams. She hit the wall in 51.83, her second-fastest split ever and gave the Australians the silver medal.

Yang Junxuan did her best to hold off the 200 free gold medal winner, but was unable to replicate her 51.96 from the mixed medley and finished .12 behind with her split of 52.11.