Australia stuns USA with relay double in Singapore

There have been nerves. Mollie O’Callaghan, given the opening leg, fumbled her goggles on the blocks. No Cate Campbell. No Emma McKeon. No Shayna Jack. This was one of many least skilled quartets Australia had fielded in years, having gained Olympic gold in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2024.

O’Callaghan (52.79), a person 100m freestyle world champion in 2023, fired off an awesome first leg earlier than Meg Harris (51.87 break up) held the lead.

From there, it was right down to newcomers Milla Jansen and Wunsch – each extremely rated although nobody actually knew if they’d it in them to propel Australia dwelling.

That they did as Jansen (52.89 break up) stored Australia in entrance earlier than Wunsch (53.05), channelling Ian Thorpe on Gary Hall Jr, surged previous the USA’s Torri Huske within the closing strokes to safe gold in 3:30.60 – 0.44 seconds away from the Americans.

The Australian coaches’ space erupted on the sight of a younger group digging deep when it mattered.

“It was very daunting,” O’Callaghan mentioned. “All of us were quite nervous. I’m very confident in these girls.”

Wunsch added: “I just wanted to power home and give it all I had. And it’s really exciting to be able to stand up with the gold medals.”

The Americans declined to element the influence of sickness of their camp, however butterfly world report holder Gretchen Walsh withdrew an hour earlier than the race.

“I don’t really want to speak on how much it’s affected us or who it’s affected,” Huske mentioned. “But we’ve done a really good job staying resilient and staying positive.”

The Australian males have typically lived within the shadow of their feminine counterparts, regardless of profitable the identical occasion on the 2023 world titles in Fukuoka. This time, their process was even more durable on paper.

At their staging camp in Darwin, Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor, Max Giuliani and Chalmers sat right down to plot a path to victory. They knew it will take one thing particular.

They did it in 2023 on the world championships however needed to accept silver eventually 12 months’s Olympics.

Southam (47.77) set the tone earlier than Taylor unleashed a scorching 47.04 break up in entrance of his mom, Australian Olympian Hayley Lewis, within the stands.

Giuliani (47.63) bought Australia into third, after which got here Chalmers, who delivered a devastating closing break up of 46.53 to motor the Dolphins dwelling over a extremely fancied American group.

As Chalmers sliced by means of the water, his teammates smashed the beginning blocks with their palms and willed the veteran to the wall.

Australia completed in 3:08.97, simply 0.73 seconds outdoors the USA’s world report from 2008. Italy (3:09.58) pipped the USA (3:09.64) for bronze.

Then got here much more celebrations, as Dean Boxall and head coach Rohan Taylor mobbed these round them in jubilant scenes.

Australia weren’t anticipated to come back shut however landed a 1-2 blow on their American rivals.

“The goal for us was just to give Kyle a puncher’s shot,” Southam mentioned. “That was what we did. We all did our job extraordinarily well.

“The girls are so incredibly deep and strong, so we wanted to be part of that. We may not be the most talented on paper … but we get in there and we have the underdog mentality. That was so awesome.”

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Asked if he thought the USA have been shocked by the outcome, Chalmers mentioned: “I think it’s a huge upset, and we prove that time and time again. Every year you read the articles and people write us off.

“We have a point to prove and swim with a chip on our shoulder a little bit, to be honest with you.

“It’s not just about the US, but it was nice to get a hand on the wall first tonight and hear the Australian anthem is so special.”

The Americans, in the meantime, have been licking their wounds after failing to win a gold medal on night time one – a uncommon sight for the swimming powerhouse, who final 12 months additionally endured their worst Olympic gold haul within the pool since 1988.

“We’re tough,” US swimmer Chris Guiliano mentioned. “We’ve got some dogs on this team.”