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ROME, Italy, August 1. CHINA continues to make its mark in the women's relays as the nation scored the top seed heading into the women's 400 medley relay finale at the FINA World Championships.
China's foursome of Zhao Jing (1:00.24), Chen Huijia (1:05.04), Jiao Liuyang (56.92) and Li Zhesi (53.94) topped qualifying in 3:56.14.
Japan's Shiho Sakai (59.47), Nanaka Tamura (1:06.55), Yuka Kato (57.45) and Haruka Ueda (53.97) qualified second in 3:57.44.
Germany's Daniela Samulski (1:00.16), Sarah Poewe (1:06.74), Annika Mehlhorn (57.36) and Daniela Schreiber (53.49) completed the top three in 3:57.75.
The Netherlands (3:58.05), Great Britain (3:58.18), Canada (3:58.23), Australia (3:58.36) and Brazil (3:58.49) also made the finale.
In a stunning turn of events, medal favorite United States could not make it out of prelims with a 10th-place 3:59.01 produced by Elizabeth Pelton (1:00.78), Kasey Carlson (1:06.79), Christine Magnuson (57.29) and Julia Smit (54.15).