Townley Haas swam the fastest split in Tuesday's final while fellow Longhorns Jack Conger and Clark Smith earned gold after shining in the preliminaries.
RIO DE JANEIRO – Texas rising sophomore Townley Haas and rising seniors Jack Conger and Clark Smith helped the United States to the gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay Tuesday evening at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Haas joined Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps to win gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay final at 7:00.66. Great Britain won the silver at 7:03.13 while Japan claimed the bronze in 7:03.50.
Dwyer led off the relay in 1:45.23 before giving way to Haas, who split a staggering 1:44.14, by far the fastest split among the 32 relay legs swum. In fact, only Great Britain's James Guy managed to join Haas under the 1:45 mark.
Ryan Lochte picked up the relay's third leg in 1:46.03 before Michael Phelps anchored the relay to victory in 1:45.26.
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Conger and Smith earned gold medals by competing in the event's preliminary round. Conger swam the relay's fastest split in the preliminary round at 1:45.73.
for Jack, Townley and Clark! Can't do the 4x200m free relay at the Olympics without a .… https://t.co/egZHPzA33R
— Texas Men'sSwimDive (@TexasMSD) August 10, 2016
With the three Longhorns competing on the relay, it marked the eighth consecutive Olympics in which at least one Texas men's swimmer represented the United States in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Longhorns have helped the U.S. win four consecutive gold medals in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay.
.@KDTrey5 & @TownleyH #BevoInRio #Rio2016 https://t.co/ULYHzJtUj9
— Texas Men'sSwimDive (@TexasMSD) August 10, 2016
With Tuesday's result, 42 Texas men's swimmers and divers have collectively won 71 medals – 46 gold, 16 silver and nine bronze – at the Olympic Games.
UT rising junior Joseph Schooling qualified sixth for the 100m freestyle semifinals but placed eighth in his semifinal heat (48.70) and was unable to advance to Wednesday's finals.