AUSSIES SNATCH SILVER IN OLYMPIC FIRST
AOC, August 16: The Australian 4 x 100m freestyle mixed relay team claimed its country's second medal of the Games - a silver - going down to the relentless Chinese by just 35 hundredths of a second in a thriller typical of Olympic competition.
The race was the first of its kind for Olympics swimming, with men and women competing against each other in the same event.
And if the edge-of-your-seat finish was anything to judge by, it won't be the last time the concept is used at elite level.
Australia's last swimmer, Justin James, said he found the new format exciting and was thrilled to take home the silver.
"It was a new event, it was something that everyone really wanted to see - our fastest guys and our fastest girls, put into a team to race against the fastest guys and girls from the other teams," James said.
"I don't know if you noticed but the whole crowd was on its feet and it was a very exciting event for us and for everyone else I think."
The Australian team of Kenneth To, Emma McKeon, Madi Wilson and James put the rest of the competition on notice earlier in the day with a blistering time in the heat - a second faster than their closest rival.
In the final, the Australians lead early after a strong first swim from To. He took the team into the first turn with a half-second lead from the French, only for it to change hands in the final lap with McKeon hitting the water just one-hundredth of a second behind.
Frenchman Medhy Metella produced an outstanding effort in the first leg, reeling To in after a hard fought effort over the last 30m. His swim was instrumental in France claiming the bronze.
Australia's second swimmer McKeon was challenged from both sides of her lane, particularly from lane 8 where Hong Kong took a few lengths into the change.
Next in the water was Wilson - a tough young swimmer from Queensland - who continued to fight off challenges from Hong Kong, the United States and France.
She changed with fellow Queenslander James, who managed to reel in his French and Hong Kong rivals but was tagged the entire way by a relentless Chinese swimmer, Jianbin Hi.
Hi seemed to have just a bit more petrol in the tank and took James right at the death to claim victory with the entire crowd on its feet.
Each team used the same formation of boy, girl, girl boy other than Hong Kong who used boy, boy, girl, girl. Wilson said the Australian team had chosen that formation based on personal times.
"I think it just really depends on the team and how their times are compared with other teammates," she said. "With us we just tried it in the heats and we used it again in the finals and it worked."
James said it was now time to "come off the high" and refocus on the job at hand - swimming fast times in the green and gold.
"We all put 110 per cent in," he said. "We all went three seconds under what we did this morning and we were happy with that."
Earlier in the evening, Australian Nicholas Schafer moved himself into contention for a medal having smashed his own PB in the 100m breaststroke by more than a second. His final time of 1.01.51 put him almost two body lengths ahead of his closest rival.
Queenslander Max Ackermann was knocked out of the 100m backstroke having finished fifth in the second semi-final and 11th overall with a time of 57.63 seconds.
The time means Ackermann will miss the final by a tight 22 hundredths of a seconds.
Ackermann started in lane 2 and was flanked by an American and a Croatian. He stood taller than most of the field and looked good after a very strong start heading into the change in third place.
Very little separated the field for the last 30m and Ackermann couldn't hold his spot.
Press Release issued by AOC