FLASH! United States Shatters World Junior Record in Women’s 400 Freestyle Relay
The United States packaged a dominant performance in the women’s 400-meter freestyle relay to cap Night Five of the World Junior Championships in Otopeni, Romania. The American quartet of Rylee Erisman, Liberty Clark, Julie Mishler and Lily King established a world junior record of 3:35.53 to beat the Russian relay by more than two seconds.
Team USA easily topped the previous world record of 3:36.19, set by Canada at the 2017 edition of the World Champs. That Canadian relay featured Penny Oleksiak and Taylor Ruck, reasons why the record endured for eight years. But the United States had too much balance and firepower.
Erisman was given leadoff duty and put the United States in front with a 53.41 split that was more than a second quicker than the 54.51 of Russia’s Kira Manokhina. Clark followed with a stellar split of 53.85 and Mishler handled the third leg in 54.65 to give Team USA a chance at the world junior record. King came through on the anchor leg, as she split 53.62. Erisman and King were the gold and silver medalists, respectively, in the 100 freestyle earlier in the meet.
