The Australians would not be beaten in what was one of the most highly-anticipated races in Paris.
Swimming fans received a treat on the first day of the 2024 Olympics in the form of the women's 400-meter freestyle final, which consisted of three of the top swimmers in the world: USA's Katie Ledecky, Canada's Summer McIntosh and Australia's Ariarne Titmus.
Today, all three were back competing against one another in the pool, but this time in a relay event.
The women's 4x200m freestyle relay wrapped up Day 6's swimming action from La Defense Arena in Paris. Eight nations had their eyes on gold in the team race, including the United States, Canada and Australia.
Titmus and Australia emerged victorious. The Aussies would not be denied a gold medal, as the quartet of Titmus, Lani Pallister, Mollie O'Callaghan and Brianna Throssell set an Olympic record time of 7:38.08.
The United States claimed second place, finishing more than two seconds behind Australia. The group of Ledecky, Emma Gemmell, Claire Weinstein and Paige Madden earned silver, giving Ledecky her 13th career Olympic medal to become the United States' all-time female leader in Olympic medals.
China was unable to defend its gold medal from 2021, settling for bronze. McIntosh and Canada just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish.
The Sporting News has you covered on all the updates, results and highlights from the women's 4x200m freestyle swimming relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
MORE: Watch Olympics swimming live with Fubo (free trial)
Olympic women's 4x200m freestyle relay results
| Place | Swimmer | Time |
| 1 | Australia | 7:38.08 |
| 2 | USA | 7:40.86 |
| 3 | China | 7:42.34 |
| 4 | Canada | 7:46.05 |
| 5 | Great Britain | 7:48.23 |
| 6 | Hungary | 7:50.52 |
| 7 | Brazil | 7:52.90 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 7:55.89 |
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Women's 4x200m free relay swimming updates, highlights from 2024 Olympics
(All times Eastern).
4:16 p.m.: With the USA's silver medal, Ledecky officially makes history, surpassing Jenny Thompson for the most medals out of an American female of all time.
HISTORY FOR KATIE LEDECKY 🐐
— ESPN (@espn) August 1, 2024
MOST MEDALS EVER BY AN AMERICAN WOMAN OLYMPIAN 👏 pic.twitter.com/iGScWWCJxE
4:14 p.m.: There's a reason they call her the Terminator. Ariarne Titmus pulls away in the final leg of the race and Australia are gold medalists in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay. The United States finishes second and China claims third.
4:12 p.m.: As expected, it's coming down to Australia, China and the United States. Australia remains ahead, but China and the United States are right there at the front. We are in the final 200 meters.
4:10 p.m.: Lani Pallister maintains the lead for Australia at the halfway point, but China and the United States are right behind. Both Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky are now in the pool for Canada and the USA.
4:08 p.m.: Mollie O'Callaghan enjoys a strong start and puts Australia in the lead after the first 200 meters.
4:07 p.m.: The swimmers are off!
3:58 p.m.: The Australians are relying on the quartet of Ariarne Titmus, Mollie O'Callaghan, Lani Pallister and Brianna Throssell.
3:51 p.m.: Canada is sending out a foursome of Summer McIntosh, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Ella Jansen and Julie Brousseau. It will be tough for the group to find a podium spot in this race, but never count out a squad with McIntosh.
3:45 p.m.: For the United States, the team is sending out Katie Ledecky, Emma Gemmell, Paige Madden and Claire Weinstein. Only Gemmell raced in the heats this morning.
3:32 p.m.: Summer McIntosh is swimming for the second time this afternoon. She won gold about an hour and a half ago in the women's 200-meter butterfly.
3:10 p.m.: China enters this year as the defending champions in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle. The country won its first gold in the event in 2021, marking only the second time in seven Olympics that the United States did not win gold in the race.
2:15 p.m.: It's official — Katie Ledekcy and Summer McIntosh are in for the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay later in the afternoon. Ledecky will race as a part of the United States team looking to improve on its second-place finish in Tokyo. McIntosh is leading a Canadian team looking to medal for just the second time in the event.
Women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay time
- Date: Thursday, Aug. 1
- Time: 4:03 p.m. ET
The women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay final at the 2024 Olympics is set to start at 4:03 p.m. ET. The race should take about eight minutes.
How to watch Olympic swimming
- Dates: July 27-Aug. 4
- Time: 5 a.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. ET
- TV channel: NBC, USA Network
- Live stream: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, Fubo
Olympic swimming begins at 5 a.m. ET each day from July 27-Aug. 3. There will only be heats in the morning session. Every day will have an afternoon session that begins at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Aug. 4 is the final day of competition and will only feature an afternoon session with five finals races.
Fans can tune into the swimming competitions on NBC and USA Network. Those streaming can watch via Peacock, NBCOlympics.com or Fubo, which offers a free trial.
Olympic swimming schedule 2024
Olympic swimming begins on Saturday, July 27, and goes until Sunday, Aug. 4.
Swimmers begin at 5 a.m. ET each morning with heats that run until 2:30 p.m. ET when the afternoon session begins. The afternoon features semifinal and final races.
Aug. 4 will not have any morning races and will feature four finals in the afternoon.
Saturday, July 27
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Women's 100 Butterfly (Heats) | Women's 100 Butterfly (Semifinals) |
| Women's 400 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 400 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Men's 100 Breaststroke (Heats) | Women's 400 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Men's 400 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 100 Breaststroke (Semifinals) |
| Women's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (Heats) | Women's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (Finals) |
| Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (Heats) | Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (Finals) |
Sunday, July 28
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Men's 200 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 400 Individual Medley (Finals) |
| Men's 400 Individual Medley (Heats) | Women's 100 Butterfly (Finals) |
| Women's 100 Breaststroke (Heats) | Men's 200 Freestyle (Semifinals) |
| Men's 100 Backstroke (Heats) | Women's 100 Breaststroke (Semifinals) |
| Women's 200 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 100 Backstroke (Semifinals) |
| — | Men's 100 Breaststroke (Finals) |
| — | Women's 200 Freestyle (Semifinals) |
Monday, July 29
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Women's 400 Individual Medley (Heats) | Women's 400 Individual Medley (Finals) |
| Women's 100 Backstroke (Heats) | Men's 200 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Men's 800 Freestyle (Heats) | Women's 100 Backstroke (Semifinals) |
| — | Men's 100 Backstroke (Finals) |
| — | Women's 100 Breaststroke (Finals) |
| — | Women's 200 Freestyle (Finals) |
Tuesday, July 30
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Men's 200 Butterfly (Heats) | Men's 100 Freestyle (Semifinals) |
| Men's 100 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 200 Butterfly (Semifinals) |
| Women's 1500 Freestyle (Heats) | Women's 100 Backstroke (Finals) |
| Women's 100 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 800 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Men's 200 Breaststroke (Heats) | Women's 100 Freestyle (Semifinals) |
| Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay (Heats) | Men's 200 Breaststroke (Semifinals) |
| — | Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay (Finals) |
Wednesday, July 31
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Women's 200 Breaststroke (Heats) | Women's 100 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Men's 200 Backstroke (Heats) | Men's 200 Butterfly (Finals) |
| Women's 200 Butterfly (Heats) | Women's 200 Butterfly (Semifinals) |
| — | Women's 1500 Freestyle (Finals) |
| — | Men's 200 Backstroke (Semifinals) |
| — | Women's 200 Breaststroke (Semifinals) |
| — | Men's 200 Breaststroke (Finals) |
| — | Men's 800 Freestyle (Finals) |
Thursday, Aug. 1
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Women's 200 Backstroke (Heats) | Women's 200 Butterfly (Finals) |
| Men's 50 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 200 Backstroke (Finals) |
| Men's 200 Individual Medley (Heats) | Men's 50 Freestyle (Semifinals) |
| Women's 4x200 Freestyle Relay (Heats) | Women's 200 Breaststroke (Finals) |
| — | Women's 200 Backstroke (Semifinals) |
| — | Men's 200 Individual Medley (Semifinals) |
| — | Women's 4x200 Freestyle Relay (Finals) |
Friday, Aug. 2
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Men's 100 Butterfly (Heats) | Men's 50 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Women's 200 Individual Medley (Heats) | Women's 200 Backstroke (Finals) |
| Women's 800 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 200 Individual Medley (Finals) |
| Mixed 4x100 Medley Relay (Heats) | Men's 100 Butterfly (Semifinals) |
| — | Women's 200 Individual Medley (Semifinals) |
Saturday, Aug. 3
| Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|
| Women's 50 Freestyle (Heats) | Men's 100 Butterfly (Finals) |
| Men's 1500 Freestyle (Heats) | Women's 50 Freestyle (Semifinals) |
| Men's 4x100 Medley Relay (Heats) | Women's 200 Individual Medley (Finals) |
| Women's 4x100 Medley Relay (Heats) | Women's 800 Freestyle (Finals) |
| — | Mixed 4x100 Medley Relay (Finals) |
Sunday, Aug. 4
| Afternoon |
|---|
| Women's 50 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Men's 1500 Freestyle (Finals) |
| Men's 4x100 Medley Relay (Finals) |
| Women's 4x100 Medley Relay (Finals) |
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