2024 Paris Olympics: U.S. wins gold medal, sets world record in 4×100 mixed relay

PARIS — The U.S. won swimming’s mixed medley relay here at the 2024 Olympics, recovering from a flop at Tokyo 2021 to beat Australia, China and Great Britain here in Paris.

The U.S. team of Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Nic Fink (breaststroke), Gretchen Walsh (butterfly) and Torri Huske (freestyle) sped ahead of the field, and finished in 3:37.43.

It was the expected result. And it was, in many ways, the only acceptable result for a country that has long been the giant of this sport; the country that likes to call its Olympics trials — and not the Olympics — the fastest swim meet, top-to-bottom, in the world.

Three years ago, however, the U.S. missed the podium entirely. A team also featuring Murphy and Huske — but questionably constructed by U.S. coaches — finished three full seconds behind Great Britain, way back in fifth place.

This time around, coaches got the lineup right. They selected four silver medalists in their respective 100-meter individual races. And together, as a collective, the silver medalists swam to a relay gold.