Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay

The U.S. women's team overhauled the rest of the field on the home stretch to defend their Olympic title with the help of a sterling anchor leg from Katie Ledecky. Trading the lead with Sweden, China, and Australia through the first three legs of the race, Ledecky left the field behind with an anchor split of 1:53.74 to deliver the American foursome of Allison Schmitt (1:56.21), Leah Smith (1:56.69), and Maya DiRado (1:56.39) a gold medal in 7:43.03.^[2][3] As the Americans celebrated their victory, Ledecky also added the relay gold to her individual triumphs in both the 200 and 400 m freestyle earlier.^[4][5]

Australia's Leah Neale (1:57.95), Emma McKeon (1:54.64), and Bronte Barratt (1:55.81) moved themselves to the front on the third leg. As the youngster Tamsin Cook dove into the pool at the final exchange with a 1:56.47 split, she could not catch Ledecky near the wall to reproduce her nation's silver-medal feat from London 2012 in 7:44.87.^[6] Meanwhile, Canada's Katerine Savard (1:57.91), Taylor Ruck (1:56.18), Brittany MacLean (1:56.36), and Penny Oleksiak (1:54.94) were unable to close the gap on the two leading teams at the anchor leg, leaving them with a bronze and a national record in 7:45.39.^[7][8]

Seizing a brief lead early in the race, the Chinese combination of Shen Duo (1:56.30), Ai Yanhan (1:57.79), Dong Jie (1:57.15), and Zhang Yuhan (1:56.72) slipped out of medals to fourth in 7:47.96.^[9] Sweden's Michelle Coleman (1:56.20), Ida Marko-Varga (1:59.46), Sarah Sjöström (1:54.88), and Louise Hansson (1:59.72) finished the race with a fifth-place time in 7:50.26, while Hungary (7:51.03), anchored by three-time gold medalist Katinka Hosszú, Russia (7:53.26), and Japan (7:56.76) rounded out the championship field.^[8]

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	China (CHN) Yang Yu (1:55.47) Zhu Qianwei (1:55.79) Liu Jing (1:56.09) Pang Jiaying (1:54.73)	7:42.08	Rome, Italy	30 July 2009	[10][11]
Olympic record	United States (USA) Missy Franklin (1:55.96) Dana Vollmer (1:56.02) Shannon Vreeland (1:56.85) Allison Schmitt (1:54.09)	7:42.92	London, Great Britain	1 August 2012	[12][13]

The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and a final. The relay teams with the best 8 times in the heats advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.^[1]

Heats

A total of sixteen countries qualified to participate. The best eight from two heats advanced to the final.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Nation	Swimmers	Time	Notes
1	2	4	United States	Allison Schmitt (1:55.95) Missy Franklin (1:57.03) Melanie Margalis (1:57.04) Cierra Runge (1:57.75)	7:47.77	Q
2	1	3	Australia	Leah Neale (1:57.06) Bronte Barratt (1:56.85) Tamsin Cook (1:57.35) Jessica Ashwood (1:57.98)	7:49.24	Q
3	2	5	China	Ai Yanhan (1:57.20) Zhang Yuhan (1:56.38) Dong Jie (1:57.45) Wang Shijia (1:58.55)	7:49.58	Q
4	1	2	Russia	Viktoriya Andreeva (1:57.82) Arina Openysheva (1:57.67) Daria Mullakaeva (1:57.85) Veronika Popova (1:57.18)	7:50.52	Q, NR
5	2	8	Hungary	Evelyn Verrasztó (1:58.81) Ajna Késely (1:58.93) Boglárka Kapás (1:57.77) Katinka Hosszú (1:55.66)	7:51.17	Q
6	1	7	Canada	Katerine Savard (1:57.96) Taylor Ruck (1:56.25) Emily Overholt (1:58.29) Kennedy Goss (1:59.49)	7:51.99	Q
7	1	6	Japan	Chihiro Igarashi (1:57.18) NR Rikako Ikee (1:57.71) Tomomi Aoki (1:57.39) Sachi Mochida (2:00.22)	7:52.50	Q
8	1	5	Sweden	Louise Hansson (2:00.07) Michelle Coleman (1:56.93) Ida Marko-Varga (1:59.27) Sarah Sjöström (1:57.16)	7:53.43	Q
9	2	3	Great Britain	Siobhan-Marie O'Connor (1:57.47) Georgia Coates (1:58.59) Hannah Miley (1:58.66) Camilla Hattersley (1:59.45)	7:54.17
10	2	2	France	Coralie Balmy (1:57.38) Cloé Hache (2:01.52) Charlotte Bonnet (1:58.15) Margaux Fabre (1:58.50)	7:55.55
11	2	7	Brazil	Manuella Lyrio (1:58.39) Jéssica Cavalheiro (1:59.05) Gabrielle Roncatto (2:00.09) Larissa Oliveira (1:58.15)	7:55.68	SA
12	2	1	Germany	Annika Bruhn (1:59.28) Leonie Kullmann (1:59.04) Paulina Schmiedel (2:01.24) Sarah Köhler (1:57.18)	7:56.74
13	1	4	Italy	Alice Mizzau (1:59.74) Martina de Memme (2:00.54) Chiara Masini Lucetti (2:00.98) Federica Pellegrini (1:56.48)	7:57.74
14	1	1	Netherlands	Marrit Steenbergen (2:00.80) Esmee Vermeulen (1:59.07) Andrea Kneppers (1:59.86) Robin Neumann (1:59.01)	7:58.74
15	1	8	Slovenia	Janja Šegel (1:59.81) Anja Klinar (2:00.74) Tjaša Pintar (1:59.25) Tjaša Oder (2:02.42)	8:02.22
16	2	6	Spain	Melania Costa Schmid (2:00.02) Patricia Castro (1:59.91) Fátima Gallardo (2:00.02) África Zamorano (2:03.79)	8:03.74

Final

Rank	Lane	Nation	Swimmers	Time	Notes
	4	United States	Allison Schmitt (1:56.21) Leah Smith (1:56.69) Maya DiRado (1:56.39) Katie Ledecky (1:53.74)	7:43.03
	5	Australia	Leah Neale (1:57.95) Emma McKeon (1:54.64) Bronte Barratt (1:55.81) Tamsin Cook (1:56.47)	7:44.87
	7	Canada	Katerine Savard (1:57.91) Taylor Ruck (1:56.18) Brittany MacLean (1:56.36) Penny Oleksiak (1:54.94)	7:45.39	NR
4	3	China	Shen Duo (1:56.30) Ai Yanhan (1:57.79) Dong Jie (1:57.15) Zhang Yuhan (1:56.72)	7:47.96
5	8	Sweden	Michelle Coleman (1:56.20) Ida Marko-Varga (1:59.46) Sarah Sjöström (1:54.88) Louise Hansson (1:59.72)	7:50.26
6	2	Hungary	Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:58.90) Ajna Késely (1:58.74) Boglárka Kapás (1:57.65) Katinka Hosszú (1:55.74)	7:51.03
7	6	Russia	Veronika Popova (1:57.52) Viktoriya Andreeva (1:58.10) Daria Ustinova (1:59.54) Arina Openysheva (1:58.10)	7:53.26
8	1	Japan	Chihiro Igarashi (1:57.85) Sachi Mochida (2:02.00) Tomomi Aoki (1:58.66) Rikako Ikee (1:58.25)	7:56.76