Former Australian Olympian James Magnussen has voiced his frustration with the mixed 4x100m medley relay’s inclusion in the Olympics, calling it “a shambles of an event”.

On Sunday morning AEST, the American quartet of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske set a world record time of 3:37.43 in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final to win gold for the United States.

It was neck-and-neck between the US and China heading into the final leg of the event, but America’s Torri Huske held her nerve to touch the wall 0.12s ahead of Chinese opponent Yang Junxuan.

The Australian team of Kaylee McKeown, Joshua Young, Matthew Temple and Mollie O’Callaghan finished 1.33s behind the Americans with an Oceanian record time of 3:38.76 to claim bronze.

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The mixed 4x100m medley relay, which features two men and two women in each team, was first introduced to the Olympic meet for the Tokyo Games three years ago. It remains the Olympics’ only mixed-gender swimming event, with Great Britain winning the inaugural event in 2021.

However, Magnussen is not a fan of the format, which adds a strategic element to the Olympic swimming meet, arguing men and women shouldn’t be pitted against each other in the pool.

“I would call it the egg-and-spoon race of the Olympic Games. It is farcical,” Magnussen told the Matty & The Missile in Paris podcast on Sunday morning.

“We’ve got men swimming against women. Kaylee McKeown won the gold medal in the 100m backstroke, she goes up against Ryan Murphy, who got bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke. There’s about a 15m difference.

“On their own, they’re both amazing products … I don’t know why we’d want to compare male athletes and female athletes.

“And then the race itself just ends up this absolute jungle, where one person’s ten metres ahead, then the other team switches. You’ve got male breaststrokers vs female breaststrokers.

“It’s just a shambles of an event. I can’t understand why it’s at the Olympic Games, and I can’t understand giving out Olympic medals to that event.

“You’re telling me at the end of the day that that’s worth the same as individual gold for Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle? It’s not comparable.”

Ahead of the final day of action at Paris La Defense Arena, Australia leads the swimming medal tally with seven gold, narrowly ahead of rival the United States with six.

The Dolphins are one gold medal away from their most successful Olympic campaign in history, while it’s been 68 years since Australia finished above the United States on the swimming table.