Women’s 4×200 freestyle relay race footage is courtesy of swimswam partner Universal Sports Network.
Swimswam / Braden Keith coverage of the 4×200 freestyle relay at the 2013 FINA World Championships:
This women’s 800 free relay was almost deja vu of the 400 earlier in the meet, only this time, by the final touch, things weren’t all-that-close.
Missy Franklin hit the water with a one-second deficit to make up on Australian anchor Alicia Coutts, who previously anchored Australia’s 400 free relay as well, and split a blazing 1:54.27 to run her down and take victory in 7:54.14.
The American team also saw a lead-off from Katie Ledecky of 1:56.32, which is a new lifetime best for her; a 1:56.97 from Shannon Vreelandon the second leg, a 1:57.58 from Karlee Bispo on the third leg, and Franklin’s anchor. All four Americans appeared to be in the right spot, and though the exchanges weren’t great, otherwise all four swam right at their potential.
The Australians, meanwhile, were lead off by Bronte Barratt in 1:57.0, followed by Kylie Palmer(1:56.2) and a big third leg from Brittany Elmslie (1:56.4). Coutts did anchor quite a bit faster than her split from prelims.
France, meanwhile, was in the lead halfway, thanks to a 1:56.4 lead-off from Camille Muffat and a 1:56.8 from young swimmer Charlotte Bonnet. They gave a lot back with a 1:59.1 split from Mylene Lazare, but Coralie Balmy anchored in 1:56.0 to hold onto the bronze in 7:48.43. If they could find even another 1:57 leg for this relay, its one that could legitimately contend for gold medals, especially with how young it is.
China, the top seed in prelims, was 4th in 7:59.79, and then things dropped off significantly withSpain (7:53.20), Canada (7:55.48), Italy (7:57.91), and Japan (7:58.15).