The Americans continued their dominance in the 4x200 free relay, winning gold over Australia by over a second and a half. The United States were just about a second behind the Aussies headed into the anchor leg with Katie Ledecky set to swim against Tamsin Cook. The American erased that deficit with ease with a near two-second turn around to complete the victory.
Sweden, China Lead Early
The big question for the United States was who would join Ledecky and Leah Smith on the relay. Allison Schmitt’s time in the semifinals earlier in the day was good enough for her to earn a spot on the relay. Maya DiRado also got the nod as the United States wanted to ride the hot hand of the American who had already won silver and bronze earlier.
Sweden took it out early with Michelle Coleman on the leadoff leg with China’s Duo Shen shortly trailing. Schmitt began to make up some ground to go second at the 100-meter mark to get second at the wall, but the American was still a full second slower than her time in the prelims at about 150 meters.
Coleman was still ahead and kept that lead the whole way through for Ida Marko-Varga to come in. Leah Smith entered the pool for the United States practically dead even with the Aussies at the first exchange, just one-hundredth of a second behind.
China put their two best swimmers up front with Shen and Yanhan Ai. The Chinese took the lead from the Swedes at the 50 and continued to hold it at the 100-meter mark on the second leg. Australia moved into third halfway through the second leg with Emma McKeon in the pool.
The Aussie was third at the turn at the 150 but overtook China for the lead as McKeon swam a brilliant 1:54.64 split to give them a three-tenths of a second lead over the Americans on the second exchange. Bronte Barratt took the pool for Australia as they decided to stick their two best swimmers in the middle of their relay team. Canada was third after two full legs thanks to Taylor Madison Ruck’s 1:56.1 split.
Australia Continues To Lead Before Ledecky Chases Them Down
Nothing changed at the first 50 as Barratt extended her lead ever so slightly on Maya DiRado while China snuck back into the third spot a second behind. DiRado was trying to hug the lane line to catch a draft on the Australians who were a lane below her in Lane 5 but was not working. They continued to trail, but the Americans knew the Australians needed to extend their lead to about a second, maybe even more, if they wanted a shot at gold since Ledecky was on the anchor for the Americans.
Barratt could not pull away from DiRado as China began to fade to over a second and a half back as they continued to battle for the potential shot at bronze. The Australians sent themselves into the final leg with Tamsin Cook into the pool with just under a one second lead over the US who had Ledecky coming in to take it home for them. Canada pipped China for third in the final turn with star youngster Penny Oleksiak headed into the pool.
Cook was ahead at the 50, but this is where Ledecky wanted her. A smart swim in the early part of this anchor leg for the Maryland native would set her up to kick it into high gear sooner rather than later. The American passed the Aussie at about 70-75 meters and touched the wall halfway through the final leg with over half a second lead. Canada was beginning to make their move, under half a second behind Australia for a potential race for silver.
With 50 meters to go, it looked all but set that gold would remain with the United States in this women’s 800 free relay. Cook was nearly a second back but still had a comfortable margin over Oleksiak that they didn’t need to panic for the silver.
It was an easy final 50 for Ledecky who swam worry-free to clinch the United States the gold. Oleksiak just could not catch Cook as Australia took silver and the Canadians took bronze. The relay team finished with a time of 7:43.03, just eleven-hundredths shy of the Olympic record set by them four years ago.