People's Republic of China win record-breaking gold in women's 4x200m freestyle relay

Chinese swimmers YANG Junxuan, TANG Muhan, ZHANG Yufei and LI Bingjie won their first Olympic gold in the event and set a new world record

People's Republic of China displayed their dominance and won their first Olympic gold in the women's 4x200m freestyle at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

The quartet of YANG Junxuan, TANG Muhan, ZHANG Yufei and LI Bingjie beat Team USA - even with heavyweight Olympic champion Katie Ledecky in the house.

They also stunned pre-event favourite Australia who were headlined by swimming stars Ariarne Titmus and Emma Mckeon.

It was a thrilling duel right at the outset with China's YANG Junxuan claiming a very strong start whilst Australia's Titmus trailed behind by 20 seconds.

However, Australia recovered through McKeown and it was neck to neck between Australia and China from that point on with both teams now swimming past world record time.

ZHANG, who just won gold in the women's 200m butterfly earlier in the morning, didn't let up and kept the momentum going for China even if Australia had a slender lead in the third quarter of the race.

China dominated the final lap with LI Bingjie taking pole position to win top podium. Meanwhile, Australia's Leah Neale was unable to catch up until Ledecky surged past to earn silver.

The Chinese team made a strong world-record and Olympic record finish at 7:40.33 to win their first Olympic gold in the event. China won back to back silver titles in Athens 2004 and in their home Games Beijing 2008.

Meanwhile the two other teams also made history today with silver medallists USA breaking an American record at 7:40.73 and Australia setting an Oceanian record time of 7:41.29.

TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 29: Gold medalists Junxuan Yang, Yufei Zhang, Bingjie Li and Muhan Tang of Team China pose with their gold medals for the Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final on day six of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on July 29, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) 2021 Getty Images

A surprise victory

This has been a surprise win for the Chinese team who were only targetting a third position finish.

"We didn't expect to win the gold, we just tried to finish third because Australia and the United States are very strong," Li said.

"This morning the three of us just talked about tactics against Canada, we thought we'd be able to compete with them."

This was equally surprising for Zhang, who didn't know she'd be part of the relay team until the final second.

"I didn't know I was doing it until I'd finished the 200 butterfly and our coach told me, 'you're in the relay.'

"I didn't even know how to swim the 200 free, although I have the training qualities and levels for the 200m distances.

However it was Zhang's earlier victory which inspired the team to do their best.

"We were inspired by her 200 butterfly and we were excited, and it made us determined to do our best at the relay. We were all in tears," Li added.