The women's 4 × 100-metre medley relay event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 3 and 4 August 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events. Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each swimmer had to swim two lengths of the pool with their respective stroke.[a]
The US were considered the favourites to win the event, while Australia, China and Sweden were also considered to be in contention. All four teams progressed to the final, where the US won with a new world record of 3:49.63, Australia finished second with 3:53.11 and China finished third with 3:53.23. The US' Regan Smith swam an Olympic record of 57.28 in the 100 metres backstroke event as the first swimmer in the relay.
Background
Australia won the event at the previous Olympics, while the US won the event at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.[1]Swimming World called the US the "big favorites" due to three of their relay participants holding the world record in the individual events they would likely be swimming in the relay.[2]China and Sweden were also likely medal challengers.[1]
Both SwimSwam and Swimming World predicted the US would win, Australia would take second and China would finish third.[1][2]
The event was held at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.[3]
Each National Olympic Committee could enter one team, and there were a total of sixteen qualifications places available. The first three qualifying places were taken by the top three finishers at the 2023 World Championships, and the final thirteen qualifying places were allocated to the fastest performances at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships.[4]
Heats
Two heats (preliminary rounds) took place on 27 July 2024, starting at 12:26.[b][5] The teams with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final.[6] Australia won the first heat to qualify with the fastest time of 3:54.81, while Canada won the second heat to qualify with the second fastest time of 3:56.10. China, the United States, Japan, Sweden, France and the Netherlands also all qualified.[7]Ireland beat their national record, lowering it to 4:00.12, but it was not fast enough to qualify.[8]
The final took place at 21:44 on 27 July.[9] As the first swimmer in the relay, the US' Regan Smith swam an Olympic record of 57.28 in the 100 metres backstroke. This swim would have won her gold in the individual 100 metres backstroke event earlier in the meet, but in that event she swam slower to finish second.[10] The US moved further ahead over the rest of the race to win with a new world record of 3:49.63. In what SwimSwam called a "tight battle for silver", Australia finished second with 3:53.11 and China finished third with 3:53.23.[11]
↑ In medley swimming, each competitor swims one of the four strokes. In a medley relay, the stroke order is backstroke first, followed by breaststroke, then butterfly, and finally freestyle.
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