Johnathan Walker:USA swims to Olympic gold in mixed medley relay, holding off China in world record

NANTERRE,Johnathan Walker France — First, second, first, first. 

That’s how each member of Team USA’s mixed 4x100-meter medley relay team hit the wall on their way to a gold medal and a new world record. 

Relays at the Paris Olympics have galvanized the crowd at Paris La Défense Arena, and Saturday’s mixed medley was no different. The arena was rocking, especially after the Americans retook the lead and never looked back.

With a stunning anchor swim, Torri Huske took off on the freestyle leg for the U.S., which had just a .04-second lead over China as she dove in.

The Americans finished first with a time of 3:37.43, while China took silver in 3:37.55 and Australia got bronze in 3:38.76.

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“This meet has been great, and this meant so much to me,” said Huske, who already earned a gold and two silver medals at the Paris Games for five total. "The world record with these three is just unbelievable, and I feel like they make it so easy to be confident because they're the best in the world. So I'm just so lucky that I get to have them by my side.”

The record previously belonged to Great Britain at 3:37.58, set in 2021 at the Tokyo Games in the event’s Olympic debut.

The mixed medley relay requires a bit more strategy than the others with two men and two women competing on each team. For Saturday’s final, Team USA’s lineup was Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Nic Fink (breaststroke), Gretchen Walsh (butterfly) and Huske (freestyle).

“We didn't talk about the world record (in advance),” said Murphy, who now has eight Olympic medals, including a bronze from the men’s 100-meter backstroke. 

“I think we know the potential of everyone on this relay, and luckily tonight, everyone swam to their potential, and we got that world record and got the win.”

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In preliminary heats for the mixed medley relay Friday, Team USA’s lineup was Regan Smith (backstroke), Charlie Swanson (breaststroke), Caeleb Dressel (butterfly) and Abbey Weitzeil (freestyle). And it worked out pretty well as the Americans qualified first, .44 seconds ahead of Australia and 1.28 seconds ahead of China.

But, as expected, the Americans’ lineup changed entirely between prelims and finals. 

“This was the biggest job I had tonight,” said Walsh, who qualified second in the women’s 50-meter freestyle semifinals earlier in the evening. “And so it was the main focus, and I was just really proud of myself and our whole relay and the prelims relay for everything we did.

“We got the world record, we got number one, we're on the podium with our gold. It was a pretty special moment, and shout out to these three teammates. I wouldn't be here without them.”

 Follow Michelle R. Martinelli on social media @MMartinelli4

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