Team USA | Katie Ledecky & Women’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay Kick Off Paris 2024 Swimming With Medals

Less than an hour after Ledecky won bronze, 4×100-meter freestyle relay newcomers Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass, and Torri Huske, and Olympic veteran Simone Manuel threw down an American record (3:30.20) in the relay, claiming the silver medal.

Ahead of the Americans, Australia won its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, with China in third.

After their bronze-medal performance at the Tokyo Olympic Games three years ago (3:32.81), behind Australia and Canada, the American women set their sights on the American record here in Paris.

“It was a goal of ours to break the American record and get as close to Australians as we could,” said Manuel. “So we’re really happy with our performance.”

Huske, Walsh, and Douglass got their first taste of Olympic hardware in the 4×100 freestyle relay. Earlier in the evening, Walsh set the Olympic record in the 100-meter butterfly semifinals and brought her “front end” speed into the relay.

For Manuel — a two-time Olympic veteran who won four Olympic medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and a silver in the 4×100 free relay in Tokyo — this relay marked a satisfying return to Olympic competition after she struggled with overtraining in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

“It just feels good to be back here, honestly,” said Manuel, who anchored the relay — a roll she has not had for five years. “I didn’t know if I would ever be performing at this level again, so just to have the full circle moment of being on this relay again, from 2021 to now, in a happier and healthier place I think is really special.”

Team USA has won a medal in the women’s 4×100 free relay in every Olympic Games since 1920, when the U.S. first sent female swimmers to the Games. The only year they missed: 1980 when the U.S. boycotted the Olympic Games. The American women last won gold in the 4×100 free relay at the 2000 Games.

Swimming resumes on Sunday, with Walsh going for her first individual Olympic gold medal in the women’s 100-meter butterfly.

“This morning, not that I was disappointed in the swim, but I was really nervous, and I needed to get that swim out of the way and just leave the nerves in the pool,” Walsh said of her first day competing at an Olympic Games. “I think I did that because I was able to come out tonight and use my front-end speed and just get to the wall and put up a really good time for myself.

“And I think it sets me up really well for tomorrow night.”