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ROME, Italy, July 30. IN a head-to-head battle in the first heat, Great Britain overtook the United States for the top seed in the women's 800 free relay finals at the FINA World Championships.
Caitlin McClatchey, Jazmin Carlin, Hannah Miley and Rebecca Adlington posted the top preliminary time with a 7:49.04 to cut a second from the United States' meet record of 7:50.09 set in 2007. Ariana Kukors, Dagny Knutson, Alyssa Anderson and Lacey Nymeyer of the U.S. also surpassed the previous mark with a second-seeded time of 7:49.51.
France's Camille Muffat, Ophelie-Cyrielle Etienne, Sophie Huber and Coralie Balmy placed third in 7:50.18.
Canada (7:50.29), Australia (7:50.53), China (7:50.80), Hungary (7:51.30) and Italy (7:52.00) rounded out the championship field.
Kukors finished with the quickest leadoff leg with a 1:56.05, while Federica Pellegrini nearly single-handedly put Italy into finals with an anchor leg of 1:54.94.