Olympics | China wins men's 4x100m medley relay gold at Paris Games

Gold medalists Team China attend the victory ceremony for the men's 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 4, 2024. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

PARIS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- China clinched its second swimming gold of the Paris Games by winning the men's 4x100m medley relay final here on Sunday.

The Chinese quartet of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Sun Jiajun and Pan Zhanle touched the wall in three minutes 27.46 seconds, more than half a second ahead of the United States' combination of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Caeleb Dressel and Hunter Armstrong, which clocked 3:28.01.

France's Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, Leon Marchand, Maxime Grousset and Florent Manadou took bronze with a time of 3:28.38, 0.92 seconds behind China.

The result broke the United States' run of 10 successive gold medals in this event dating back to the Los Angeles 1984 Games.

It was Pan's second gold in Paris to go with his 100m freestyle triumph.

"This is magic for me," said Pan, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday. "We make a good team and we managed to get a great result."

Pan's time of 45.92 represents one of the fastest 100m freestyle splits in history while Qin also clocked a stunning 57.98 to out-swim French hero Leon Marchand in the breaststroke leg.

Xu, who swam the opening backstroke leg in 52.37, did not hide his delight at adding gold to his two silver medals in Paris.

"The whole Olympic Games journey for me is great. I am very satisfied," said the 28-year-old. 

Athletes compete during the men's 4 x 100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 4, 2024. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

Gold medalists Team China (top), silver medalists Team USA (L) and bronze medalists Team France attend the victory ceremony for the men's 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 4, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)

Gold medalists Team China attend the victory ceremony for the men's 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 4, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)