Australia have won the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the Olympics to join Ariarne Titmus as gold-medal winners at the Paris Games.
Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon, and Meg Harris of Australia won the freestyle relay for the fourth time in a row.
After Titmus won the women’s 400-meter freestyle, the relay team beat China and the United States in a time of three minutes, 28.92 seconds, setting an Olympic record.
The win put Australia into the lead in the Paris award count, with the men taking silver in their 4x100m transfer as the USA took out the title.
At the time of writing, Australia has won three gold medals and two silver medals, beating China, which has won two gold medals and one bronze medal. This makes it the most successful first day of the Games for any nation.
As they led the race from start to finish early on Sunday morning (July 28), Australian time, the women set a new Olympic record.
Titmus defended her Olympic 400m freestyle title by turning swimming’s century-old race into a golden personal procession just half an hour before the relay final.
The Tasmanian is only the second Australian female swimmer to shield an Olympic crown effectively.
Meanwhile, the legendary Dawn Fraser, who was watching from the stands at the Paris La Guard Field on Saturday night, won 100m free-form gold back in 1956, 1960 and 1964 Games.
The victory of the relay team came shortly after Ariarne Titmus (center) defeated Summer McIntosh and her fierce rival Katie Ledecky to win gold in the 400-meter freestyle. The three competitors have all held the world record in the event for the past three years.
However, despite McIntosh, a 17-year-old, posing the greatest challenge, Titmus, the current benchmark’s owner, never appeared to be in danger of losing.
The Canadian attempted to keep up with Titmus as Ledecky fell off the pace early, but their final gap of 0.88 seconds reflected the Australian’s dominance.
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Jamie Perkins, a fellow Australian like Titmus, came in last (4:04.96).
The next goal for Titmus, who holds the world records for the 200 and 400 meter freestyle, is to defend her Olympic title over the shorter distance.
Heats and semi-finals of that event will be contested on Sunday ahead of Monday’s final.
Titmus’ triumph followed fellow Australian Elijah Winnington claiming the silver medal in the men’s 400m freestyle, though pre-race fancy teammate Sam Short finished fourth.
German Lukas Maertens (3:41.78) took the gold medal, touching the wall some 0.43 seconds ahead of Winnington.
