The women's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 1 August 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.
Australia were considered by SwimSwam and Swimming World to be the most likely to win the event, with SwimSwam opining that the United States, China and Canada were racing for second place. All four of those teams advanced to the final. In the final, Australia led from beginning to end to win with a new Olympic record of 7:38.08, the US won silver with 7:40.86 and China won bronze with 7:42.34. As part of the US' relay team, Katie Ledecky won her thirteenth Olympic medal, which was the most Olympic medals ever won by an American female in any event.
Background
Team China won the event at the previous Olympics, while Australia won the event at the 2023 World Championships with a world record of 7:37.50.[1]SwimSwam opined that "Australia practically has this race in the bag"[1] due to their recent world record and due to having the top two fastest swimmers in the world in the event — Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus. The United States won silver at the 2023 World Championships and 2020 Olympics, and China had held the world record in the event in 2021.[1]
SwimSwam wrote that the US, China and Canada were racing for second place, predicting Australia would win, China would come second and the US would come third.[1]Swimming World also predicted Australia would win, but predicted that the US would come second and Canada would come third.[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 1 August 2024, starting at 12:05.[a][5] The teams with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final.[6] The United States won the first heat with the fourth fastest qualifying time of 7:52.72, while Australia won the second heat with the fastest qualifying time of 7:45.63, which was the fastest qualifying time by over six seconds. Hungary, China, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand also all qualified.[7]
The final took place at 22:03 on 1 August.[8] Australia led from beginning to end to win with a new Olympic record of 7:38.08,[9] which broke the previous world record of 7:40.33 set by China at the previous Olympics by over two seconds.[1][10][11] The US won silver with 7:40.86 and China won bronze with 7:42.34.[9]
Kieran Pender from The Guardian wrote that the Australian team "live[d] up to expectations", while Titmus said "I feel like a bit of redemption for us", saying that she found her performance in the event at the previous Olympics disappointing.[10][12] As part of the US' relay team, Katie Ledecky won her thirteenth Olympic medal, which was the most Olympic medals ever won by an American female in any event.[13][14] Brazil's Maria Fernanda Costa swam a time of 1:56.06 as the first Brazilian swimmer, which was a new South American record in the 200 metres freestyle individual event.[15]
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