Australia turned to the best sister act in swimming to hold off a US team anchored by Katie Ledecky.
Give the gold to Cate and Bronte Campbell. And a world record, too.
The Campbells carried their squad to victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Saturday night at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, with little sister Bronte snatching the lead from Dana Vollmer on the third leg and big sister Cate pulling away from Ledecky on the final down-and-back for a time of 3 minutes, 30.65 seconds.
Photo: EPA
The Australians broke their own mark of 3 minutes, 30.98 seconds set two years ago and defended their gold medal from four years ago.
“This one was different, because it was expected,” Cate Campbell said. “It’s always a lot harder to do something when it’s expected.”
That was not the only world record to fall on a late night of swimming. Shaking off repeated frustration on the sport’s biggest stage, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary crushed the world record in the women’s 400m individual medley to make the first Olympic medal of her career a gold one.
Also, Japan’s Kosuke Hagino ended US dominance in the men’s 400m individual medley, while Australia’s Mack Horton took down Sun Yang of China.
The victories by Horton and the women’s relay team capped an impressive first night for an Australian team who captured only one swimming gold medal in London four years ago.
They had already eclipsed that total on Saturday, with seven more nights to go.
Meanwhile, the US won three silvers, but could not reach the top step on the podium.
Simone Manuel and Abbey Weitzeil did their best in the relay, giving the US a lead at the midway point. Bronte Campbell was more than a second faster than Vollmer, who had competed about an hour earlier in the semi-finals of the 100m butterfly, while Ledecky was no match for Cate Campbell, the world-record holder in the 100m freestyle.
The US won silver in a US-record time of 3 minutes, 31.89 seconds, extending a gold-medal drought in the event that goes back to the 1996 Atlanta Games. Canada claimed bronze.
Still, it gives Ledecky a strong shot at capturing five medals in Rio. She was favored in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events, and could take another gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
“It made it so much more fun to have a relay as the first event,” Ledecky said. “We couldn’t be happier with our silver medal and American record.”
Hosszu, known as the “Iron Lady” for her grueling schedule, had an especially sweet triumph. She had captured nine medals — including five golds — at the world championships, but never won an Olympic medal. She defiantly pumped her chest before breaking into a huge smile.
“I’ve been chasing that world record for quite some time,” she said. “I knew I could go faster, but I didn’t think I can go this much faster.”
She had led all the way and touched in 4 minutes, 26.36 seconds, easily eclipsing the record of 4 minutes, 28.43 seconds held by China’s Ye Shiwen. Maya DiRado of the US touched nearly five seconds behind, taking silver ahead of Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia.
“I honestly didn’t even see her, she was so far ahead,” DiRado said of Hosszu.
Hagino claimed gold for Japan by holding off Chase Kalisz, becoming the first non-American to win the 400m medley since 1992.
Kalisz made a late charge, but could not catch Hagino, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Games, but golden this time around in 4 minutes, 6.05 seconds.
Kalisz settled for the silver in 4 minutes, 06.75 seconds, while Japan’s Daiya Seto took bronze.
“I thought about a lot of stuff this afternoon, but decided to just stop over-thinking and go for it,” Hagino said. “I knew Daiya and Chase would come for me, but I just had to leave it all out there, which is what I did.”
Ryan Lochte, the defending Olympic champion, did not even qualify at the US trials. Michael Phelps was the champion in 2004 and 2008, but he dropped the event from his program. Tom Dolan was a back-to-back champion in 1996 and 2000.
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