USA breaks world record, wins swimming Olympic gold in women's medley relay

NANTERRE, France — Team USA ended swimming at the Paris Olympics on Sunday with a standout relay, winning gold and breaking the world record in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay at Paris La Défense Arena.

In the final event in the pool of these Games, the team of Regan Smith (backstroke), Lilly King (breaststroke), Gretchen Walsh (butterfly) and Torri Huske (freestyle) swam a spectacular race obliterating the field by nearly four seconds. Their time of 3:49.63 broke the Olympic record set by Australia at the Tokyo Games (3:51.60) and the Americans' own world record of 3:50.40, set in 2019.

Australia came home with a silver with a time of 3:53.11, while China took bronze 3:53.23.

Interactive graphic: Want to train like an Olympic champion? Start with this expert advice.

The men’s medley — featuring Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Nic Fink (breaststroke), Caeleb Dressel (butterfly) and Hunter Armstrong (freestyle) — finished with a time of 3:28.01. China won the gold medal with a time of 3:27.46, while France took bronze in 3:28.38.

This marks the first time the U.S. men failed to capture gold in the medley relay event in a non-boycotted Olympics.

The Americans’ world and Olympic record of 3:26.78 from the 2021 Tokyo Games still stands.

Heat races for both relays were on Saturday — there are no semifinals for relays — and the men’s medley relay qualified third, 0.26 seconds behind top qualifier France and China in second. The prelim lineup consisted of Hunter Armstrong (backstroke), Charlie Swanson (breaststroke), Thomas Heilman (butterfly) and Jack Alexy (freestyle), who combined for a time of 3:31.62.

In the women’s medley relay heat, the Americans qualified fourth and 1.59 seconds behind top qualifier Australia, along with Canada and China. Katharine Berkoff (backstroke), Emma Weber (breaststroke), Alex Shackell (butterfly) and Kate Douglass (freestyle) finished with a 3:56.40 prelims swim.

Team USA relay results at Paris Olympics

Here’s a look at how the U.S. men's, women's and mixed relay teams performed in Paris:

• Women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay: Silver

• Men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay: Gold

• Men’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay: Silver

• Women’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay: Silver

• Mixed 4x100-meter medley relay: Gold (world record)

• Men’s 4x100-meter medley relay: Silver

• Women’s 4x100-meter medley relay: TBD

Follow Michelle R. Martinelli on X (fomerly Twitter) at @MMartinelli4.

▶ The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA wins swimming gold in women's medley relay, breaks world record