Madden helps U.S. to silver in 4×200 free relay

Posted on Thursday, Jul. 29, 2021, 9:08 am

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Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia’s Paige Madden, swimming the second leg, helped the United States 4×200 Freestyle Relay team win the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Madden becomes the fourth UVA swimmer to earn a podium appearance during the Olympic Games.

When Madden (Mobile, Ala.) dove into the pool the U.S. team was in fourth place behind Canada after teammate Allison Schmitt’s opening leg of the race. During her final 100 meters, Madden moved the American squad into third place, swimming a split of 1:55.2. During the third leg Katie McLaughlin maintained the U.S. team’s position and then Katie Ledecky overtook the Australia team during her swim and finished just 0.4 behind the winning team from China.

The United States team posted a time of 7:40.73, just behind China’s world record time of 7:40.33. Australia, the pre-race favorites, placed third at 7:41.29. All three podium teams bettered the previous world record time for the event.

“It was awesome,” Madden said after the race. “This is like a dream.”

Madden’s silver medal means that all four UVA swimmers in Tokyo made podium appearances during the swimming competition. Incoming first-year Emma Weyant (Sarasota, Fla,) took the silver medal in the 400IM while Alex Walsh (Nashville, Tenn.) and Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y.) captured silver and bronze medals, respectively in the 200-meter individual medley.

Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo, who led the UVA women’s team to its first NCAA Championship this year, was an assistant coach for USA Swimming at the Games.