The start lists for this evening’s final of the women’s 4×200 free relay have been updated with the names of the swimmers on each team, and there are a few interesting changes.
Most notably, the USA coaches have chosen to swap out three swimmers from this morning’s preliminary heat. Leah Smith will retain her spot, as her 1:57.52 lead-off time this morning was faster than any other USA swimmer’s relay split. It is definitely not surprising to see Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin on the start list, as they were the gold and bronze medalists, respectively, in the individual 200 free yesterday.
However, it is a bit unexpected to see Katie McLaughlin‘s name on the list. While she does have the fourth-fastest time among USA women in the 200 free this year, behind only the other three swimmers on the relay, she does have the finals of the women’s 200 fly this evening, with roughly an hour between the two events.
Franklin will lead-off, followed by Smith and McLaughlin, with Ledecky anchoring.
Top-seeded Italy will be sticking with the same order and same swimmers.
Great Britain is substituting Siobhan-Marie O’Conner for Eleanor Faulkner, after the latter was the only British swimmer to split over 1:59 this morning. China and France are swapping out one swimmer each.
Sweden is making two notable changes. First, Stina Gardell is out after a 2:01.25 split in preliminaries. She is being replaced by veteran Ida Marko-Varga, who failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 200 fly, but who competed for Sweden in this event in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.
The other big change for Sweden is that Sarah Sjostrom will be leading off for the final, after anchoring this morning. Sjostrom chose not to compete in the individual 200 free, despite having the second-ranked time in the world this year in the 200 free, a 1:54.77 that would have upset Ledecky’s bid for four freestyle golds this week, had Sjostrom been able to replicate that time in the final.
