PARIS — The U.S. won swimming’s mixed medley relay here at the 2024 Olympics, recovering from a flop at Tokyo 2021 to beat China and Australia in world-record time.
The U.S. team of Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Nic Fink (breaststroke), Gretchen Walsh (butterfly) and Torri Huske (freestyle) finished in 3:37.43, narrowly ahead of China by 0.12 seconds.
Murphy swam the U.S. into a slight lead over the first 100 meters. China’s Qin Haiyang took back the lead at the 200 with a strong breaststroke leg. But Walsh and Huske, one of the stars of the week for Team USA swimming, closed with fury and held off China.
It was, in many ways, the expected result. And it was the only acceptable result for a country that has long been the giant of this sport; the country that likes to call its Olympics trials — and not the Olympics — the fastest swim meet, top-to-bottom, in the world.
Three years ago, however, the U.S. missed the podium entirely. A team also featuring Murphy and Huske — but questionably constructed by U.S. coaches — finished three full seconds behind Great Britain, way back in fifth place.
This time around, coaches got the lineup right. They selected four silver medalists in their respective 100-meter individual races. And together, as a collective, the silver medalists swam to a relay gold and a world record.