Redemption complete.

Australia has won another Olympic gold in the pool, blitzing the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay with an Olympic record time of 7:38.08 on Friday morning AEST.

After claiming a disappointing bronze in Tokyo three years ago, the Dolphins quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus joined forces in a convincing victory at Paris La Defense Arena.

The United States finished second with a time of 7:40.86, while China claimed bronze at 7:42.34.

Mollie O’Callaghan, the 200m freestyle Olympic champion, got Australia off to a flying start, notching a time of 1:53.52 in the first leg.

China closed the gap in the second leg before a phenomenal swim from American champion Katie Ledeckey of 1:54.93 heaped pressure on the Australians.

Enter Titmus.

The Queenslander stormed ahead of her opponents during a blistering anchor split, recording a time of 1:52.95 to secure Australia’s fifth gold medal in the pool.

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“I’m really proud of this group, we’ve wanted this relay,” Titmus told Channel 9 after the medal ceremony.

“I was disappointed with how I swam in Tokyo. I personally felt like I let the team down, so this was a bit of personal vendetta, for me to come back and play my role in the team, but also do it for our country.

“This was a gold medal that we knew we could be ours, and I’m so proud to do it.

“Quite emotional out there.

“We’re literally living the dream. Very special night.”

Australia finished 0.58s behind the world record time of 7:37.50 they set at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka.

The triumph was particularly satisfying for Pallister, who was forced to withdraw from the women’s 1500m freestyle earlier this week after testing positive for Covid-19.

“These girls are so incredible,” Pallister told Channel 9.

“I didn’t think I’d be part of this relay at the start of the week so to be here standing with them, I don’t think I could ask for anything more from my Olympic experience.”

After winning its fifth Olympic gold in the pool, Australia has edged ahead of rivals the United States on the swimming medal tally.

O’Callaghan, who is yet to celebrate her 21st birthday, now boasts five Olympic gold medals to her name, while Titmus has four. Jamie Perkins and Shayna Jack, who represented Australia during the relay heats earlier on Thursday, also earned a gold medal.

Elsewhere, Australian champion Kaylee McKeown looks poised to defend her Olympic crown in the women’s 200m backstroke, registering the fastest time in her semi-final.

The 23-year-old, who won gold at Tokyo in the event three years ago, notched a time of 2:07.57 without breaking a sweat. However, American rival Phoebe Bacon recorded the fastest time in the other semi-final with 2:07.32.

The final gets underway on Saturday morning at 4.36am.

Meanwhile, Australian swimmer Cameron McEvoy looms as a gold medal contender in the men’s 50m freestyle after recording the equal-fastest time in the semi-finals.

The 30-year-old notched a time of 21.38 in a dead heat alongside Britain’s Benjamin Proud, while compatriot Ben Armbruster missed out after recording 21.94 in his semi-final.

The final is scheduled for Saturday morning at 4.30am.

The women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final, where Australia is expected to push for gold, gets underway shortly at 6.03am AEST.

Earlier, Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh won Olympic gold in the women’s 200m butterfly final, cementing her status as a future superstar of the sport.

The 17-year-old set a new Olympic record at 2:03.03, with America’s Regan Smith (2:03.84) and China’s Yufei Zhang (2:05.09) joining her on the podium. Australians Elizabeth Dekkers and Abbey Lee Connor finished fourth and seventh respectively with times of 2:07.11 and 2:08.15.

Hungary’s Hubert Kos won the men’s 200m backstroke final with a time of 1:54.26, narrowly beating out Greece’s Apostolos and Switzerland’s Roman Mitukov for gold.

Meanwhile, America’s fortunes in the pool have finally improved, with Kate Douglass winning gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke final with a time of 2:19.24, an Americas record. South Africa’s Tatjana and Dutch star Tes Schouten won silver and bronze respectively.

Dolphins stars William Campbell Petric and Thomas Neill both failed to qualify for the men’s 200m individual medley final after finishing sixth and seventh respectively in their semi-final.

HEATS WRAP

Swimming legend Ian Thorpe has encouraged Australians to get excited after Cameron McEvoy qualified fastest for the 50m freestyle semi-finals on Thursday night.

Dolphins stars McEvoy and Ben Armbruster both progressed through while Kaylee McKeown also won her heat as she looks to defend her Olympic crown in the women’s 200m backstroke.

The women’s 4×200 freestyle relay team, meanwhile, dominated their heat and shape as the clear gold medal favourites on Friday morning.

McEvoy was the fastest qualifier with a time of 21.32 ahead of reigning Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel, who finished a surprising sixth in the heat to scrape through to the semis as the 13th qualifier out of 16.

“Get excited Australia … he left the rest of the field stationary,” Mat Thompson said in commentary.

“We have seen how he usually progresses through from heats to semis to finals … he has planned this to perfection,” added Ian Thorpe.

“That is very exciting for all of us.”

McEvoy, who is coming off a 50m world championship gold in 2023 became the first Australian male swimmer to go to four Olympics at this year’s Games.

He spoke earlier in the year about the benefits he was seeing from a new training schedule, which included a reduced training load.

“It has been really cool, generally speaking,” McEvoy told Channel 9 after the heat.

“It’s wildly different. Almost like I’m in a different sport in a sense.”

Meanwhile, Armbruster also impressed to progress through to the semi-finals, finishing second in his heat with a time of 21.86.

Elsewhere, going back to McKeown, three years ago she became a household name after winning gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke events at the Tokyo Games.

Having successfully defended her 100m title earlier this week, McKeown shifts focus towards the four-lap event and won her heat with a time of 2:08.89 to qualify for the semi-finals.

It means she’ll race again at 5.19am for a spot in the final.

No Australian athlete has ever won four gold medals in individual events meaning McKeown can become the first if she wins the 200m crown.

Jaclyn Barclay was the first Australian into the pool on Thursday and was fifth fastest in her heat but missed out on the semi-finals.

Later, compatriots William Petric and Tommy Neill qualified for the semis in the 200m individual medley heats.

Next up, Lani Pallister got in the pool for the first time at this year’s Olympics having pulled out of the 1500m freestyle after testing positive for Covid.

Pallister led the way for Australia in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay and got the team off to a strong start with a time off 1.53:66, which Jamie Perkins took advantage of to maintain the green and gold lead by the halfway point.

Brianna Throssell then gave Shayna Jack a big lead heading into the final leg and she finished it off in style, with Australia winning its heat with a time of 7.45:63 as the fastest qualifier for tomorrow morning’s final at 6.03am.

The Aussies were seven seconds faster than second-place even with Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan resting for the final.

However they were almost too quick with Perkins coming 0.03 seconds away from getting the Aussies disqualified due to diving in for her leg before Pallister had touched the wall.

SWIMMING SCHEDULE DAY 6

All times AEST

4:30am — Women’s 200m Butterfly Final (Lizzy Dekkers, Abbey Connor)

4.38am — Men’s 200m Backstroke Final

4.46am — Men’s 50m Freestyle Semifinals (Cameron McEvoy, Ben Armbruster)

5.11am — Women’s 200m Breaststroke Final

5.19am — Women’s 200m Backstroke Semifinals (Kaylee McKeown, Jaclyn Barclay)

5.47am — Men’s 200m Individual Medley Semifinals (William Petric, Tommy Neill)

6.03am — Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay Final (Australia)