American Women Sweep Relays with Championship Record in 400 Medley Relay

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Aug. 20. THE American contingent of Natalie Coughlin, Jessica Hardy, Rachel Komisarz and Amanda Weir recorded the first sub-four-minute women’s 400-meter medley relay in meet history with a 3:58.38 at the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships. That effort wiped out the 4:00.50 set by the Australians on August 29, 2002 in Yokohama, Japan.

Coughlin opened the race with a quick 1:00.12 during the backstroke leg before giving way to Hardy’s breaststroke leg of 1:06.53. Komisarz began the back half of the relay with a 57.88 during the butterfly leg, before Weir took it home in 53.85 during the anchor freestyle leg.

"I really wanted to get us off to a great lead and get under a minute," Coughlin said. "I was a bit off, but fortunately I had three other women behind me who had great swims."

The effort came incredibly close to setting an American record, currently held by BJ Bedford, Megan Quann (Jendrick), Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres with a 3:58.30 at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Meanwhile, the Japanese quartet of Hanae Ito, Asami Kitagawa, Yuko Nakanishi and Maki Mita placed second for silver in 4:02.47, while Australians Fran Adcock, Sarah Katsoulis, Jessicah Schipper and Melanie Schlanger earned bronze in 4:03.82.

The performance also completed the relay trifecta for the American women as they also won gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay during the meet.

Click Here to view event results PDF file

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use