Olympic Swimming 2016: Women's 4x100M Freestyle Relay Medal Winners and Times

The United States may have one of the best swimmers in the world among its ranks, but that wasn't enough to overcome a stronger Australian team in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Australia set a world record Saturday, finishing in three minutes, 30.65 seconds. The United States came in 1.24 seconds behind, while Canada finished third:

Pos.	Country	Time
1	Australia	3:30.65
2	United States	3:31.89
3	Canada	3:32.89
4	Netherlands	3:33.81
5	Sweden	3:35.90
6	Italy	3:36.78
7	France	3:37.45
8	Japan	3:37.78

According to Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan, the United States swimming team collectively failed to win a gold medal on opening night for the first time in 20 years.

The U.S. led at the halfway mark, but Australia saved its two strongest swimmers for the last two legs. Dana Vollmer did her best to maintain the United States' advantage, but Bronte Campbell put Australia ahead for the final 100 meters.

Katie Ledecky swam the final leg for the U.S. and went head-to-head against Cate Campbell, who is the world-record holder in the 100-meter freestyle (52.06 seconds). Ledecky, on the other hand, specializes in longer distances, which became clear as the gap between her and Campbell grew while they approached the finish line.

NBC Sports' Nick Zaccardi showed how Bronte and Cate Campbell made the difference:

ESPN Stats & Info's Paul Carr noted Australia is already having a better showing in the pool than it did four years ago:

Former Olympic medalist Mel Stewart of SwimSwam.com saw a silver lining Saturday night:

Ledecky won gold in the 800-meter freestyle at the 2012 Olympics, and she holds the world records in the 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles.

The 19-year-old will compete three more times in Rio—in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyles. She may have come out on the losing end on opening night at the 2016 Games, but that will likely further motivate her to capture gold in her remaining events.

Post-Race Reaction

"It was amazing, I barely had any breath left, just enough to cheer her home," Bronte Campbell said when asked about her internal thoughts as she watched her sister finish the race, per Australia's Channel 7 (via the Daily Telegraph's Todd Balym). "It was great going into it knowing that I gave her a lead."

"This whole team is like a family," said her sister Cate. "We have two other sisters standing here who did a brilliant job. We are all Queensland girls, we train in Queensland."

Rather than dwell on the negatives, Ledecky accentuated the positives.

"It's much more fun to have a relay as the first event," she said, per USA Today's Dan Wolken. "We just wanted to give the Australians a fight. We were there. I'm really happy with it. They set me up really well."