Paris Olympics: U.S.-China Mixed Medley Showdown Was Best Race of Games
In the past two Olympic Games, the mixed 400 medley relay has been a wildly entertaining addition to the swimming program, with each nation making slightly different strategy choices to maximize strengths and mask their weaknesses. That often means women and men racing each other; the Tokyo Olympic final, for instance, featured the 100-meter gold medalists in women’s and men’s backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle facing off.
In Tokyo, a British squad led by Adam Peaty pulled away to win gold while the Americans finished a stunning fifth, learning in the process that time differences between men and women meant that a male breaststroker and female freestyler were required for any medal-contending group.
The backstroke and butterfly legs, however, could go either way, and the U.S. coaches in Paris opted for a team of Ryan Murphy (back), Nic Fink (breast), Gretchen Walsh (fly) and Torri Huske (free), passing on the chance to use world-record holders Regan Smith (back) and Caeleb Dressel (fly) on their best strokes.
China, the winner of the 2023 world title in the event, entered the meet with a team ideally-suited for this relay: Xu Jiayu (back), Qin Haiyang (breast), Zhang Yufei (fly) and Yang Junxuan (free). But one year after winning world titles in all three breaststroke events, Qin struggled mightily in his individual races in Paris, ending up seventh in the 100 breast and tying for 10th in the 200 breast.
Qin Haiyang — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
In prelims, China experimented with using silver-medal-winning breaststroker Tang Qianting and world-record-breaking freestyler Pan Zhanle, but the traditional lineup with Qin and Yang was capable of a quicker time, so the team’s coaches put their trust in Qin to bounce back.
What resulted was perhaps the best race of the Olympics, with all members of the American and Chinese teams coming through with season and career-best times while the teams were never separated by more than a half-second over the course of their epic duel.
Murphy bounced back from missing the final of the 200 back with a brilliant leadoff leg, touching five hundredths ahead of Xu in 52.08. On breaststroke, Qin came through with a split of 57.82, but Fink stayed close enough with his 58.29 clocking, sufficient to give his female teammates a chance.
By the halfway point of the butterfly leg, Walsh had taken the lead, and she went on to split 55.18, but Zhang would not yield down the back stretch, and neither would Yang as she faced off against Huske, already the silver medalist in the individual 100 free. Both swimmers would record the fastest splits of their respective careers, Huske at 51.88 and Yang at 51.96, but the Americans had just enough to hang on to win gold by 12-hundredths.
The U.S. clocked 3:37.43, with China just behind at 3:37.55, both marginally quicker than the world record set by Great Britain three years earlier in Tokyo, while Australia was plenty elite in a bronze-medal performance, with Kaylee McKeown, Joshua Yong, Matt Temple and Mollie O’Callaghan combining for a time of 3:38.76.
“This meant so much to me, the world record with these three is just unbelievable,” Huske said. “They make it so easy to be confident because they’re the best in the world. So I’m just so lucky that I get to have them by my side.”
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Pivotal race. Likely helped US tie China for the Gold Medal, Had they lost, China would be two gold medals ahead.