2024 Paris, Oceania Recap: New Zealand Women Makes Their First Olympic Relay Final

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
  • Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
• La Défense Arena — Paris, France
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Full Swimming Schedule
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Pick ’em Contest
• How To Watch
• Entry Lists
• Live Results
• Oceania Recap, Day 1: Chalmers On ‘King Kyle’ Form After Tough Run Up to Paris
• Oceania Recap, Day 3: Mollie O’Callaghan Goes From Prelims-Only Relay Swimmer to Olympic Champ in Three Years
• Oceania Recap, Day 4: Kaylee McKeown Becomes 2nd Woman to Defend Olympic Gold In 100 Backstroke
• Oceanian Recap, Day 5: Kyle Chalmers Joins Rare Air By Medalling In Third Straight Olympic 100 Freestyle

Through six days of competition, we’ve seen a lot of Olympic firsts. Today, Greece got its first Olympic medal in pool swimming since 1896 with Apostolos Christou‘s 200 backstroke silver medal. Leon Marchand became the first since 1976 to win two gold medals in the same session. Summer McIntosh is the first Canadian woman to win two individual gold medals.

Along with individual achievements, swimmers have been stepping up on the relays; this week, several countries have done their best relay performances, setting national records or making finals for the first time. This morning, the New Zealand women became the latest to make history for their country as Erika Fairweather, Eve Thomas, Caitlin Deans, and Laticia-Leigh Transom became the first Kiwis to make a women’s relay Olympic final.

The 4×200 freestyle relay quartet has been making Kiwi history in this relay throughout the year. At the 2024 World Championships, they finished 5th and broke their national record twice in the process. In the heats, they took down the long-standing national record from the prelims of the 2012 Olympic Games. They lowered their time in finals with a 7:53.02, lowering the national record by 2.90 seconds over the day.

“We were all absolutely stoked about that swim,” Deans said in Doha. “To be competitive in a world champs final is something we’ve all been working towards so to experience that tonight was really special.”

The swim was a confidence boost less than six months from the Olympics. They continued to show that they were capable of competing on the world stage in Paris, qualifying for the women’s 4×200 free relay final in 8th place (7:54.37). That secured the Kiwi women’s highest finish in a relay at the Olympics; before this swim, they’d been 11th in both the 4×100 freestyle relay and the 4×100 medley relay.

The squad added time and remained 8th in the finals but it was still a historic moment for all four swimmers and their country.

The world of swimming is growing–Australia and the U.S. are leading the medal table, but it’s far from the stranglehold that it once was. Other countries’ delegations are performing at their top levels, achieving all sorts of firsts for their countries even outside the medal picture. These Kiwi women are the latest example of that.

Day 6 Quick Hits

• Mollie O’Callaghan (1:53.52), Lani Pallister (1:55.61), Brianna Throssell (1:56.00), and Ariarne Titmus (1:52.95) set a new Olympic record of 7:38.08 to win gold in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay. Titmus posted the fastest split in the field as the Australians redeemed themselves from the Tokyo Games, where they came in as the favorites but ended up taking bronze. Since then, they’ve owned this relay, setting a world record at the 2023 World Championships. It was Australia’s only medal of the session but brings them a leading fifth gold medal and is their 11th overall medal at these Games.
• Finalists from today’s session include Elizabeth Dekkers and Abbey Connor, who finished 4th and 7th in the women’s 200 butterfly. Dekkers touched in 2:07.11, just over a second ahead of Connor’s 2:08.15.
• Kaylee McKeown and Cam McEvoy made it through to the finals in their respective events. McKeown won the second semifinal of the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:07.57. She’s the second seed heading into tomorrow night’s final, trailing Phoebe Bacon (2:07.32). Meanwhile, McEvoy tied with Ben Proud in the men’s 50 freestyle second semifinal in 21.38. That was the fastest time of the evening and they will be the fastest qualifiers for the final.

Oceanian Medal Table Thru Day 6