Team USA sets world record in electric, tense 4×100 mixed relay: ‘Special moment’

Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske were out for revenge in swimming’s mixed 4×100-meter medley relay on Saturday afternoon.

And they got it — in the form of a gold medal and a new world record with a time of 3:37.43.

It exceeded expectations to make up for a Tokyo flop in 2021 — the event’s Olympic debut — where the Americans finished in fifth place.

In what was an expected tight race with Australia, the U.S. ended up head-to-head with China until the final seconds.

Murphy started the race with backstroke followed by Fink, who swam breaststroke, as the two kept slightly ahead of China until Walsh made up ground — in personal-best fashion — in the butterfly at 55.18 seconds to take about a body’s worth of a lead.

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It was up to Huske to keep the lead in the last 100 meters, and she did, beating the world record by 0.15 on the last touch of the wall.

China also beat the original world record with a time of 3:37.55 but earned silver.

“We got the world record, we got number one, we’re on the podium with our golds,” Walsh said after the race.”It was a pretty special moment and I mean, shout out to these three teammates. I wouldn’t be here without them, so it’s a pretty cool experience.”

It was the Americans’ second medal in the pool of the day, only a few minutes after Katie Ledecky won her fourth consecutive 800-meter freestyle gold medal — her ninth career gold.

She has now won the most golds by a U.S. female Olympian in any sport.

With the victory in the relay, the Americans added their sixth swimming gold medal, which is just one behind Australia.

However, the U.S. will almost undoubtedly win the overall swimming medal count with 25.

Sunday is the final day of competition for swimming, and four medals are on the line — the women’s 50-meter freestyle, men’s 1500-meter freestyle and the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter medley.

The thrilling feat by the U.S. swimming team came just a day after the track team set a world record in the 4×400 relay event, but in the final on Saturday, the team took home silver after a stunning last-ditch effort sprint from the Netherlands’ Femke Bol.