Saturday, 24 July 2021

Tokyo Relay Splits: Emma McKeon Blasts 51.35; Simone Gamble Pays Off for USA | SwimSwam

By Anne Lepesant on SwimSwam

2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games

WOMEN’S 400 FREE RELAY

The women’s 4×100 free relay final was one for the history books, with the Australian quartet taking .36 off the World Record with their winning time of 3:29.69. While none of their swimmers was slower than 53.10, it was Emma McKeon’s 51.35 split on the third leg that really put considerable distance between Australia and the rest of the field. McKeon’s was the 5th-fastest relay split of all time, interrupting teammate Cate Campbell’s streak of the six fastest splits ever.

Rank Time Athlete Country Meet Date Location
1 50.93 Cate Campbell AUS 2018 Pan Pacific Champs 8/8/2018 Tokyo
2 51.00 Cate Campbell AUS 2018 Commonwealth Games 4/4/2018 Gold Coast
3 51.10 Cate Campbell AUS 2019 World Champs 7/23/2019 Gwangju
4 51.19 Cate Campbell AUS 2018 Pan Pacific Champs 8/8/2018 Tokyo
5 51.35 Emma McKeon AUS 2020 Olympic Games 7/24/2021 Tokyo
6 51.36 Cate Campbell AUS 2018 Pan Pacific Champs 8/8/2018 Tokyo

Sweden got off to an early lead out of lane 6 thanks to Sarah Sjostrom leadoff which broke the Olympic Record with 52.62. Bronte Campbell of Australia was next in 53.01, followed by Denmark’s Pernille Blume (53.07). Great Britain and Canada both produced sub-54 leadoffs, as well, from Anna Hopkin (53.16) and Kayla Sanchez (53.42).

Lead-off Splits

Country Swimmer Split
Sweden Sarah Sjostrom 52.62
Australia Bronte Campbell 53.01
Denmark Pernille Blume 53.07
Great Britain Anna Hopkin 53.16
Canada Kayla Sanchez 53.42
USA Erika Brown 54.02
China Cheng Yujie 54.10
Netherlands Kim Busch 54.64

USA’s Abbey Weitzeil was the fastest in the number 2 position with 52.68. She split 52.56 in Rio, also on the second leg. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (52.87) of Netherlands and Australia’s Meg Harris (53.09) were the next-fastest #2s.

McKeon led the 3rd leg by 1.8 seconds. The next-fastest was Natalie Hinds of USA, whose 53.15 brought the Americans from fourth into second place. Sweden’s Louise Hansson (53.51) and Canada’s Rebecca Smith (53.63) were the only other sub-54s on the 3rd leg.

Femke Heemskerk clocked a 52.05 on the end of Netherland’s relay for the fastest anchor. Cate Campbell’s 52.24 was next, bringing Australia in for the record. Campbell’s fastest split, however, is 50.93 from 2018 Pan Pacific Championships. She has been under 52 seconds 11 times. Penny Oleksiak notched a 52.26 to outsplit USA’s Simone Manuel by .70 and secure the silver medal for Canada.

Manuel’s 52.96 was the second-fastest split for the American squad. It was a vindication for the 2016 Olympic champion, whose semi-final performance at U.S. Olympic Trials put her one place short of making that final. Olivia Smoliga, Catie Deloof, and Allison Schmitt, who finished third, fifth, and sixth in that race with times that ranged from 53-mid to 54-low, raced on the USA relay in prelims but none broke 53.4.

Flying Splits

Country Position Swimmer Split
Australia 3 Emma McKeon 51.35
Netherlands 4 Femke Heemskerk 52.05
Australia 4 Cate Campbell 52.24
Canada 4 Penny Oleksiak 52.26
USA 2 Abbey Weitzeil 52.68
Great Britain 4 Freya Anderson 52.84
Netherlands 2 Ranomi Kromowidjojo 52.87
China 4 Wu Qingfeng 52.9
USA 4 Simone Manuel 52.96
Australia 2 Meg Harris 53.09
USA 3 Natalie Hinds 53.15
Great Britain 2 Abbie Wood 53.23
Canada 2 Maggie MacNeil 53.47
Sweden 3 Louise Hansson 53.51
China 2 Zhu Menghui 53.54
Sweden 2 Michelle Coleman 53.62
Canada 3 Rebecca Smith 53.63
Denmark 2 Signe Bro 53.78
Netherlands 3 Kira Toussaint 54.14
China 3 Ai Yanhan 54.22
Denmark 4 Jeanette Ottesen 54.39
Denmark 3 Julie Kepp Jensen 54.46
Great Britain 3 Lucy Hope 54.73
Sweden 4 Sophie Hansson 54.94

 

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