2024 Paris Olympics: Ariarne Titmus Splits 1:52.95 on Australian Anchor (Day 6 Relay Analysis)

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
  • Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
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Another women’s freestyle relay, another gold medal for Australia. After claiming the 4×100 freestyle relay title on night 1, the Aussies added another gold to their arsenal in the longest relay on the docket.

This is only Australia’s second gold ever in the event. The last time they won Olympic gold was in Beijing 2008. Despite being the favorites three years ago in Tokyo, they fell to a surprising bronze behind China and the United States.

In the final tonight, Australia’s team of Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell, and Ariarne Titmus basically led from start to finish. There were points where China tried to challenge that reign, but they ultimately slid to bronze as the U.S. women repeated their silver from Tokyo.

WOMEN’S 4×200 FREESTYLE RELAY – Final

• World Record: 7:37.50 – Australia (2023)
• Olympic Record: 7:40.33 – China (2021)
• 2021 Winning Time: 7:40.33 – China (2021)
• 2021 Time to Win Bronze: 7:41.29

Podium

1. Australia (M. O’Callaghan, L. Pallister, B. Throssell, A. Titmus) – 7:38.08 ***NEW OLYMPIC RECORD***
2. USA (C. Weinstein, P. Madden, K. Ledecky, E. Gemmell) – 7:40.86
3. China (Yang J., Li, B., Ge, C., Liu, Y.) – 7:42.34
4. Canada – 7:46.05
5. Great Britain – 7:48.23
6. Hungary – 7:50.52
7. Brazil – 7:52.90
8. New Zealand – 7:55.89

Swimmer #1 Splits

200 freestyle champion Mollie O’Callaghan got Australia out to a blazing start, splitting exactly a second faster than China’s Yang Junxuan. Scarily enough, O’Callaghan can go even a second faster, as her personal best stands at 1:52.48. Still, it was more than enough to get the job done.

Claire Weinstein got under 1:55 for the first time to assert her position as the fourth fastest American woman in the 200 free. She swam a personal best of 1:55.24 in the 200 free semis earlier this meet, and now becomes only the fourth American woman to ever break 1:55.

Freya Colbert also broke a barrier on the first leg, bettering her best time of 1:56.16 from last summer’s World Championships.

Swimmer #2 Splits

Li Bingjie starting cutting into Australia’s lead on the second leg, splitting 0.56-seconds faster than Lani Pallister. Pallister tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this meet, withdrawing from the 1500 free heats, but was still able to roughly match her flat start best.

Li outperformed her best time (1:55.62), as did Paige Madden (1:56.36). It was the same three countries who threw down the top splits as the first leg, with Great Britain once again hanging 4th thanks to Abbie Wood.

Swimmer #3 Splits

After winning 200 fly gold to open the session, Summer McIntosh dropped a speedy 1:53.97 to lift Canada’s relay from 7th all the way to 4th, a position they would maintain for the rest of the race. McIntosh holds the World Junior Record in the 200 free which stands at 1:53.65, but did not contest the individual event at this meet. Her split stands as the third fastest of the entire field, flying or otherwise. It also ties her fastest relay split from Fukuoka 2023.

Katie Ledecky swam third for the United States, and while a 1:54.93 isn’t the fastest split we’ve seen from her, it was enough to surpass China’s Ge Chutong who went out hard but paid for it on the back-half.

There weren’t many fireworks from the third leg otherwise, with Brianna Throssell adding a bit from her 1:55.82 split from this morning.

Swimmer #4 Splits

Despite the U.S. going into the final leg just 0.35-seconds behind Australia, there was no question world record holder Ariarne Titmus could bring the Aussies home fast. She split 26.00/28.58/29.37/29.00 for the third fastest 200 free split of her career, and the third fastest of all time. Titmus is the only female swimmer in history to swim a 1:52-point off a flying start.

Liu Yaxin made an effort to make up the deficit between China and the U.S., but only split eight-hundredths faster than Erin Gemmell. After barely missing out on finals in the individual event, Gemmell split over a second faster than her semis effort to secure her first Olympic medal.

Full List of Splits