Rio de Janeiro: Australia turned to the best Sister Act in swimming to hold off an American team anchored by Katie Ledecky.
Give the gold to Cate and Bronte Campbell.
And a world record, too.
The Campbells carried their squad to victory in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay Saturday night at the Rio Olympics, with little sister Bronte snatching the lead from Dana Vollmer on the third leg and big sister Cate pulling away from Ledecky on the final down-and-back for a time of 3 minutes, 30.65 seconds.
The Aussies broke their own mark of 3:30.98 set two years ago and defended their gold medal from four years ago.
“This one was different because it was expected,” Cate Campbell said. “It’s always a lot harder to do something when it’s expected.”
That wasn’t the only world record to fall on a late night of swimming to kick off the Games. Shaking off repeated frustration on the sport’s biggest stage, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary crushed the world record in the women’s 400 individual medley to make the first Olympic medal of her career gold.
Also, Japan’s Kosuke Hagino ended American dominance in the men’s 400-meter individual medley, while Australia’s Mack Horton took down Sun Yang of China without giving his bitter rival so much as a passing glance.
The victories by Horton and the women’s relay team capped an impressive first night for an Australian team that captured only one swimming gold medal in London four years ago.
They’ve already eclipsed that total, with seven more nights to go.
Meanwhile, the powerful Americans managed three silvers but couldn’t reach the top step on the podium. Simone Manuel and Abbey Weitzeil did their best in the relay, giving the US a lead at the midway point. But Bronte Campbell was more than a second faster than Vollmer, who had competed about an hour earlier in the semi-finals of the 100 butterfly, and Ledecky was no match for Cate Campbell, the world-record holder in the 100 free.
The US had to settle for silver in an American-record time of 3:31.89, extending a gold-medal drought in the event that goes back to the 1996 Atlanta Games. Canada claimed the bronze.
Still, it gives Ledecky a strong shot at capturing five medals in Rio. She’s favoured in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle events, and could take another gold in the 4x200 free relay.
“It made it so much more fun to have a relay as the first event,” Ledecky said. “We couldn’t be happier with our silver medal and American record.”
Hagino claimed gold for Japan by holding off Chase Kalisz, becoming the first non-American to win the gruelling event since 1992.
Kalisz made a late charge but couldn’t catch Hagino, a bronze medallist at the 2012 London Games but golden this time around in 4:06.05.
Kalisz settled for the silver in 4:06.75, while Japan’s Daiya Seto took bronze.
“I thought about a lot of stuff this afternoon but decided to just stop over-thinking and go for it,” Hagino said. “I knew Daiya and Chase would come for me but I just had to leave it all out there, which is what I did.”