Australia’s 4x100m men’s freestyle relay team claimed a bronze medal on the second night of Olympic competition at Rio, finishing behind the USA and France – a result that handed US great Michael Phelps his 19th Olympic gold medal.
Having entered the final among the favourites, the Australian team of Cameron McEvoy, James Roberts, Kyle Chalmers and James Magnussen could not catch Phelps and co, as the American collected his 23rd Olympic medal with a sensational swim in the second leg. The Americans won gold in 3:09.92 ahead of France (3:10.53) and Australia.
But the Australians were happy with the result, especially having looked likely to miss a medal at various stages of an absorbing final. “Just to have a first Olympic medal, that a dream come true for me, even if it is a bronze it’s still amazing,” McEvoy said after the race. “It was great. It’s my first Olympic medal, first Olympic final, so you couldn’t really come out with a better result.”
Australia were well off the pace after Roberts’ first leg and Chalmers entered the pool in eighth position with a lot of work to do as Phelps flew to a healthy lead. Chalmers did brilliantly, hauling Australia into second spot as Magnussen entered the water but McEvoy still entered the final leg in fourth position and only managed to haul in the Russians to secure third place.
Though there were no surprises in the selection of Australia’s final team, they made an unexpected tactical change leading into the final, switching Roberts to first off the blocks after Magnussen’s sluggish time of 48.85 leading off in the semi-final. Former Olympian Giaan Rooney and Network Seven commentator had earlier labelled the move “quite surprising” and it was not an overwhelming success.
At Australia’s selection trials earlier in the year McEvoy had become the first man to complete a treble of sprint wins in the 50m, 100m, and 200m, events for which he will also vie for individual medals. The 21-year-old astrophysics student is outright favourite for the 100m freestyle crown. Magnussen now has another medal to go with his silver from London, and also claiming bronze is Matthew Abood, who swam in the heats but made way for McEvoy in the final.
The result left Australia in third position on the medal tally with three gold and three bronze medals, while the USA and China filled the top two slots with 12 and eight medals respectively.
