Swimming, World Championships Doha 2024: People's Republic of China dominate women's 4x200m freestyle relay final

Paris 2024

China's Ai Yanhan, Gong Zhenqi, Bingjie Li, and Yang Peiqi finished three seconds ahead of Great Britain in silver, while Australia took bronze in Doha, Qatar.

2 minBy Andrew Binner
People's Republic of China celebrate victory in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay at the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships

(2024 Getty Images)

The People's Republic of China dominated the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final to win gold at the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships on Thursday (15 February).

Semi-final fastest swimmers New Zealand were the quickest out the blocks, and took a healthy lead into the second leg.

The Kiwis maintained that gap at the halfway point, until a brilliant changeover from Lucy Hope saw Great Britain take over on the third leg.

But China's not-so-secret weapon, Bingjie Li, who took silver in the individual women's 400m and 1500m freestyle earlier in the week, stormed past the field to give her nation a sizable advantage going into the anchor leg.

From there, Yang Peiqi expertly saw her team home in a time of 07:47.26, over three seconds clear of the field.

Great Britain took silver in 7:50.90, while Australia completed the podium in bronze with 7:51.41.

"Our dreams have come true. I really appreciate my teammates, they were unbelievable!" Li said afterwards.

The women's 4x200m freestyle relay at Doha 2024 was a Paris 2024 Olympic qualifier. The final quota list is yet to be confirmed. As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.

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