The Australian Women’s 4×200 relay squad stormed to victory on Thursday night at the Swimming World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. The quartet of Ariarne Titmus, Madi Wilson, Brianna Throssell and Emma McKeon stole victory from the United States team by a margin of just 0.37 seconds.
In doing so, they also set a new world record of 7:41.50 for women’s 4×200 relay, beating the 7:42.08 time set by the Chinese team back in 2009. This was Australia’s third relay gold of the event as well as the first time the men and women’s teams won the 4×200 title at the same meet.
Ariarne Titmus, at only 18 years old, stole the show with a rapid first leg coming in at just 1:54.27 which also sets a new Australian record. The heart-stopping final was cinched by Emma McKeon, swimming catch-up in the last leg after the United States team closed the gap Titmus set up. McKeon had just missed the individual 200m event due to illness, she says ”I was hurting a lot but when it comes to relay you really give it your all.” Throssell had also sacrificed her place in the 200m butterfly semi-final in order to swim the relay, a choice which definitely paid off and in her words was ”the best moment.”
This spectacular achievement, and also the first time Australia has won the women’s 4×200 relay world title, helped place Australia in fourth overall on the medals table across the World Aquatics Championships. A significant improvement on Australia’s eighth position back in 2017.
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