China register record-breaking win in 4x200m freestyle relay

Members of the Chinese 4x200m freestyle relay team are jubilant after clinching gold yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

China's women stunned the field to smash the world record and win the Olympic 4x200m relay title in a major upset on Thursday. The team of Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan, Zhang Yufei and Li Bingjie touched in 7mins 40.33 seconds ahead of the United States (7:40.73) and Australia (7:41.29).

It is the first time neither Australia nor the USA have won gold since the event was introduced in 1996. All three teams were under the previous world record of 7:41.50 set by Australia in 2019.

But China took the title after Li held off a late charge by America's Katie Ledecky, who threatened a comeback during the final leg. "We didn't expect to win the gold," said Li. "We thought we would finish third because Australia and the United States are very strong. We thought maybe we could be competitive with Canada so when we talked about tactics in the morning we just talked about what we would do against Canada."

Ledecky's 1:53.76 was the fastest leg of the race. "These girls swam their lights out and I got in a position where I thought I could take on those ladies next to us," Ledecky said. "I wish I had another half-second in me but I gave it my all."

Australia had been the overwhelming favourites coming in, with their women's team already winning gold in the 4x100m relay on Sunday, when they broke their own world record.

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