World Championships: U.S. Women Continue to Persevere With 800 Free Relay Silver in American-Record Time
None of the four women representing the United States in the World Championship final of the 800 freestyle relay had a poor performance. Claire Weinstein was hundredths off the best time she posted to win bronze in the 200 free final. Anna Peplowski had a career-best split. Erin Gemmell came through after a rough effort in the 200 free final, and Katie Ledecky anchored in the second-best split of her career.
It was enough for an American-record time of 7:40.01, seven tenths quicker than a Ledecky-led team swam four years ago at the Tokyo Olympics. Only Australia was better. Middle-leg swimmers Jamie Perkins and Brittany Castelluzzo were members of the finals squad for the first time, and they did enough to give bookends Lani Pallister and Mollie O’Callaghan the opportunity to produce gold.
The Americans have yet to win a relay gold medal in four chances this week, with the low point undoubtedly coming when the mixed 400 medley relay failed to qualify for the final. The women’s freestyle relays, though, have fulfilled all reasonable expectations under the circumstances.
Departing U.S. Nationals in early June, the U.S. women looked to have enough depth and top-end speed to dethrone Australia in the 400 free relay and perhaps this longer event as well, but the acute gastroenteritis that has spread to nearly the entire team inserted a major obstacle. The 400 free relay lost Gretchen Walsh at the last minute, with Gemmell admirably filling in, and Torri Huske was severely compromised. Despite that, the team came very close to gold, falling to Australia by less than a half-second.
Katie Ledecky (left) preparing to anchor the U.S. women’s 800 freestyle relay against Mollie O’Callaghan — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
This time, Weinstein was feeling better after withdrawing from the individual 400 free at the start of the meet, but Huske was unavailable while Gemmell is now struggling. Gemmell was seemingly fine through the 200 free semis, qualifying eighth for the final in 1:56.03, but she swam four seconds slower in the final while finishing a distant last.
Her status for the relay was in question, but the U.S. coaching staff inserted her into the lineup on the third leg. Like every other American swimmer this week swam with every ounce of toughness. Peplowski handed her a small lead, and Gemmell initially expanded upon the advantage with a blazing start, but she could not maintain that pace.
The split was 1:56.72, everything that could have been expected after her results 24 hours earlier, but one-and-a-half seconds behind Gemmell’s best time of 1:55.23 from Nationals.
“It’s always a lot easier to step up when it’s a relay,” Gemmell said. “You know that you have your teammates behind you and I think that’s a really great source of motivation, no matter what we’ve been through individually.”
Yes, if fully healthy, the American women might have swept the freestyle relays. But given the swimmers’ struggles in the past week-and-a-half, these two gritty silver medals might be even more revealing about the team’s makeup.
“It says a lot about these three,” Ledecky told NBC Sports. “The ups and downs that this whole team has gone through the last week, it’s incredible to see the resilience. That’s what Team USA is all about, coming together doing our best. Sometimes our best is an American record, and that’s pretty darn cool.”
This relay followed the best American finish of the meet, a 1-2 from Katharine Berkoff and Regan Smith in the women’s 50 backstroke, and Smith echoed the same determined spirit her team has put on display throughout the first five days of competition.
“USA has been so tough,” Smith said. “This is probably the worst that we’ve ever experienced in terms of getting slammed by something at the last possible second. Very unfortunate, but we’re not going to go down without a fight. We’re very tough, and I think we’re continuing to build momentum. I think we’re going to end the week very, very strong.”
