Commonwealth Games, Day Four Finals: Australian Women Continue Domination in 800 Free Relay
As expected, the Australian women have been nearly unbeatable at the Commonwealth Games. Through four days, the Dolphins have won eight out of nine individual events (all except the 100 breaststroke), and after a medal sweep in the 100 free earlier in the session, they punctuated the night with a massive victory in the 800 free relay.
Lani Pallister has already put together a dominant meet in the freestyle events, with individual gold medals in the 400 and 1500 plus a silver in the 200. Pallister led off in 1:55.13, just off her time from the individual event (1:55.01). After that, Australia would depend on a pair of swimmers making their debuts on the “A” squad, Hannah Casey and Inez Miller. Both came through with splits well ahead of their individual best times, Casey going 1:55.43 and Miller 1:55.78.
That set up a massive advantage for Mollie O’Callaghan on the anchor leg. O’Callaghan shined in that role at last year’s World Championships, splitting 1:53.44 to fend off American anchor Katie Ledecky and secure gold. This time, O’Callaghan cruised to a split of 1:56.19, and her country ended up 7.57 seconds clear of any other team with a final time of 7:42.53.
Australia won gold in the event for the 10th time in 11 chances at the Commonwealth Games, having won at every previous edition except 2002. O’Callaghan was the only holdover from the 2022 team, which swam a time of 7:39.29 to break the world record. And although they went unchallenged in Glasgow, the Aussies will have a strong test awaiting from a deep U.S. team at the Pan Pacific Championships in just over two weeks.
Behind the Australians, England and New Zealand were clearly the second and third-best teams in the field. The Kiwis’ Erika Fairweather edged out English leadoff swimmer Freya Colbert by six hundredths, 1:55.92 to 1:55.98, and the two teams stayed deadlocked through the halfway point. From there, England’s Leah Schlosshan and Freya Anderson pulled away to capture silver. England’s Colbert, Abbie Wood, Schlosshan and Anderson combined for a time of 7:50.10, with New Zealand’s Fairweather, Caitlin Deans, Eve Thomas and Milana Tapper scoring bronze in 7:51.94.
