Australian women off to a dominant start in their Olympic swimming rivalry with the US

NANTERRE, France (AP) — The Australian women are about the surest thing in swimming, and they showed it Saturday on the first night at the Paris Olympic pool.

They picked up two gold medals, led by Ariarne Titmus in the 400-meter freestyle and another by the quartet in the 4x100 freestyle relay, their fourth straight Olympic victory in that event.

Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a time of 3 minutes, 28.92 seconds.

“I think as the years go on, the standards just get higher and higher,” McKeon said. “I mean, you look at the history in this event for Australia and everyone wants to be a part of that and everyone works really hard to be a part of that and the standards just the bar keeps raising. I think that’s probably what brings the strength to this team.”

The victory was especially sweet for the 30-year-old McKeon, swimming in her final Olympics. She won seven medals three years ago in Tokyo, including four gold. It also raised her gold-medal tally to six starting with the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Aussie women’s showdown with the United States will be a story on all nine days at the pool, and they have gained an early edge over their No. 1 rivals.

“For me it’s definitely about getting up there and doing my country proud,” Jack said. “It’s a really special moment to stand on the podium with the other three girls.”

The U.S. claimed gold in the final event of first night at the pool, winning the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay with Caeleb Dressel on the anchor leg. The Australians settled for silver.

Katie Ledecky gave the Americans a bronze in the 400 free — her 10th Olympic medal, including six gold — and the U.S. women took silver in the 4x100 free relay in 3:30.20 with Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel.

China finished third.

When it comes to the 4x100 free relay, the Aussie women are used to gold.

Especially McKeon, who has 12 medals in her career.

“I think I was 17 when I missed London (for the 2012 Olympics), you couldn’t have told me that I’m gonna go on to do this,” McKeon said. ”It’s just that persisting and, you have ups and you have downs and you just keep going along and you keep ticking the boxes and doing everything that you can.