2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
- Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
- Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
- Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
- Full aquatics schedule
- SwimSwam Event Previews
- Entry Lists
- Live Results
- Day 1 Finals Heat Sheet
The Australian women have done it. During the first finals session at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Bronte Campbell, Meg Harris, Emma McKeon, and Cate Campbell have downed the women’s 4×100 freestyle world record, collecting gold in a 3:29.69.
That swim is an improvement upon the nation’s former mark of 3:30.05 which they set at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. That record was established by Shayna Jack, Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon, and Cate Campbell for gold in 2018.
Split Comparison
| Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games | 2018 Commonwealth Games | |
| 100 | Bronte Campbell (53.01) | Shayna Jack (54.03) |
| 200 | Meg Harris (53.09) | Bronte Campbell (52.03) |
| 300 | Emma McKeon (51.35) | Emma McKeon (52.99) |
| 400 | Cate Campbell (52.34) | Cate Campbell (51.00) |
In addition to improving upon their own world record in the event, the Australian women have successfully defended their Olympic title from 2016. In fact, 3/4 of the women who took gold in Rio were present during the 2020 final in Bronte Campbell, Cate Campbell, and Emma McKeon while Meg Harris replaced 2016 Olympic medalist Brittany Elmslie. The Australian women won the 2016 title in a 3:30.65 which was an Olympic record at the time meaning that the new world record of 3:29.69 is also an Olympic record.
Further, since Australia held the previous world record at a 3:30.05, this swim represents a new Australian and Oceanian record in the event. While a world record is an incredible feat in any circumstance, Emma McKeon made her contribution event more impressive by splitting a 51.35 as the 3rd leg in the race.
Joining Australia on the Olympic podium, the Canadian women swam a 3:32.78 for the silver medal, while the Americans rounded out the top 3 in a 3:32.81. That’s a swapped result from the 2016 Olympic Games when the USA took silver to Australia in a 3:31.89 while Canada was bronze in a 3:32.89.
Canadian Silver Medal-Winning Splits
- Kayla Sanchez – 53.42
- Maggie MacNeil – 53.47
- Rebecca Smith – 53.63
- Penny Oleksiak – 52.26
USA Bronze Medal-Winning Splits
- Erika Brown – 54.02
- Abbey Weitzeil – 52.68
- Natalie Hinds – 53.15
- Simone Manuel – 52.96
AUS were thoroughly professional throughout. It was always likely that a number of teams would front end load so AUS front end needed to keep themselves at the business end and they did so.
Sjostrom was the outlier on lead-off but medal wise, C2 put them in front. Harris held her nerve and more than delivered handing a lead over to McKeon.
McKeon’s split was no real surprise given her flat start times, the only question was the potential impacts of 100fly semis.
C1 was handed over a significant lead rather than a close race situation hence its tricky to get a full perspective on her time. To my mind, I think her days of absolute monster (51low)… Read more »
Strange how the Canadian women have their times, but not in split format.
27.64 sec is the second half for Manuel. Slow. She still has problem at longer than 50m distance.
A lot of people are very satisfied with that relay finish with Oleksiak running down and passing Manuel on anchor.
Usa swimming and media have never even acknowledged ever that Simone Manuel was in a tie for the win at Rio with Oleksiak. Everything they do has excluded the fact that Manuel tied. Always have made it seem like Simone stood alone atop the podium.
In fact the run up to the relay the coverage had Penny strategically cut out of everything with only Simone.
So BOOM… the reigning Olympic 100 Free champion got the silver….for the Canadians.
You are not wrong. US Media is as corrupt as can be.
Sad but looks like US will lose all 3 women’s relays. 800 will get crushed by 5 or 6 seconds. In MR, I think Lily King will give big lead, Huske will hold, Weitzell will get passed by Campbell.
Two years ago, Medley Relay dominated World’s with Regan and Lilly leading off. Appears US coaches were WAY out coached during quarantine. Aussies all got way better.
I think Australia needs more than a 51 split from Campbell to compensate for Hodges being a lot slower than King.
Don’t be surprised for Hodges to drop time in the 100 breast it’s her first olympics and she’s been rapidly improving she’s the wild card imo and she’s still young
I actually meant to say more than a 52 split (ie a 51 split).
Well we’ve also got McKeown this time around, which should help Australia out a bit. Our weakness obviously will be in Breaststroke (for all the Medley Relays).
McKeon will swim fly, Campbell free.
Campbell barely swam faster than Abbey tonight. If you’re going to dream and ignore facts you should let others as well.
I will. I’ll let you ignore facts.
Brown was not a good choice for the lead off leg.
I am sure she will settle down and swim a solid 100 later.
McKeon looks amazing so far, my (not so much) bold prediction is that she’ll be the biggest female star of the OG.
She looks brilliant, but we haven’t seen Titmus swim yet.
even if titmus wins both 200m and 400m free and the 4x200mg relay, McKeon could be walking away with 7 medals (best ever by an Australian in one games is 5), and in her form a number of them will be gold
0.26sec (!). That is the difference in reaction time between Manuel and Oleksjak.
0.03 sec is the difference between silver and bronze Olympic medals.
When will it become clear to coaches that a relay exchange is the essential part of this kind of swimming competition?
Where can I find the LIVE results with relay splits, etc. thank you in advance.
Just follow the link provided by Swimswim at the beginning of the article.
Could not agree more.
It was a clear difference watching it live … love Simone but her relay exchange was age-group level. She got left in the blocks