An Australian team led by Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus won women’s Olympic gold for the second fastest time ever.
Led by O’Callaghan and brought home by Titmus, with Lani Pallister and Brianna Throssell between the legs, they ran an Olympic record seven minutes 38.08 seconds at La Defense Arena on Thursday.
The United States led by Katie Ledecky (7:40.86) took silver, and defending champion China (7:42.34) took bronze.
Ledecky became the most decorated Olympic swimmer of all time. She now has 13 Olympic medals, one more than compatriots Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin and Australian Emma McKeon.
#Silver to the USA!
A strong performance to win second place in the women’s 4x200m freestyle swimming relay.
The USA has won medals in this event at every Olympic Games since it was first held in 1996, making it 8 consecutive medals!
Katie Ledecky also breaks the medal record for… pic.twitter.com/HDWZ0KB4v1
– The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 1, 2024
Australia avenged their failure to win gold in Tokyo when China set a new world record that surprised both them and the Americans.
Australia regained the world record at the 2023 world championships and were heavy favorites in Paris, with their time in Paris second only to their best world record.
They got a good start from O’Callaghan, who clocked 1:53.52 to give them the lead, but it was Titmus who sealed the deal, coming home in a scorching 1:52.95 to leave the US and China in its wake.
Gold for the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay
Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus dominated the field in 7:38.08, setting a new Olympic record! #AllezAUS | @swimmingaus | @dolphinsaus pic.twitter.com/TgKB8fTCNO
– Australian Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) August 1, 2024
Earlier in the pool, Kate Douglass highlighted her remarkable versatility with gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke, defeating Tokyo champion Tatjana Smith, who retired from swimming with a silver medal in her last race.
Making the most of her cornering ability, American Douglass got ahead of Smith after each race and held off the South African to touch the wall in 2:19.24 at La Defense Arena.
World champion Tes Schouten won bronze for the Netherlands, her first Olympic medal.
Douglass’ victory was her first Olympic gold and second in the competition, following her silver medal in the women’s 4×100 meter freestyle.
A master of all strokes, she also won bronze in the 200m individual medley in Tokyo and is a great candidate for gold in the same event in Paris.
“I’m really excited. I feel like for a while I wasn’t sure if it would be possible to say Olympic champion, and now it’s really exciting to see it happen,” the 22-year-old told reporters.
Having won gold in the 100m breaststroke on day three, Smith was trying to match compatriot Penny Heyns, who won gold in the 100m and 200m at the 1996 Atlanta Games and remains the only female swimmer to do so.
She had to settle for silver, but it earned her a total of four Olympic medals – two gold and two silver – surpassing Chad le Clos (one gold, three silver) as South Africa’s most decorated swimmer. at the Olympic Games.
“It was an incredible race and finishing with silver, but with a fight, was the best way to end it,” the 27-year-old told reporters.
“I don’t know if I’ll look at the pool in the next 10 years.
“It’s so hard for a swimmer to swim for fun. I do not know why. If there’s a pool party or something, no one wants to swim.”
Meanwhile, Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh won her second gold medal by fending off a strong field in the women’s 200m butterfly final.
The 17-year-old touched the wall in an Olympic record time of two minutes and 3.03 seconds, 0.81 seconds ahead of American silver medalist Regan Smith.
China’s Zhang Yufei took bronze.
It was McIntosh’s third medal at the Paris Games, having won the dominant individual medley gold in the 400 meters on the third day of the competition and silver in the 400 meter freestyle on the first day.
The butterfly victory also made McIntosh the first Canadian swimmer to win multiple Olympic gold medals.
In the men’s 200 meter backstroke final, Hubert Kos won Hungary’s first swimming gold at the Paris Games.
The 2023 world champion came from behind to score in one minute and 54.26 seconds, 0.56 ahead of Greek silver medalist Apostolos Christou, at La Defense Arena.
Roman Mityukov, from Switzerland, bronze.
Christou led for the first 150 metres, with Kos taking second place at the 150 meter mark before upshifting to overtake.
Kos has been working with Michael Phelps’ former coach Bob Bowman, who also trains three-time French champion Leon Marchand.
“I kept swimming and swimming and, you know, I was very happy to put my hand on the wall first,” said the Hungarian.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
