CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hough High School graduate Erika Brown brought home a medal in her Olympic debut Sunday in Tokyo, helping the United States bring home bronze in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay.
Australia brought home the gold medal with a world-record performance. The Aussies touched in 3 minutes, 29.69 seconds, breaking the mark 3:30.05 that they set in 2018. Canada just edged the U.S. by .03 seconds for silver as Penny Oleksiak topped Simone Manuel in a photo finish.
The United States' medal was the country's sixth of the night, including the first gold of the Tokyo Olympics by Chase Kalisz. Kalisz was the silver medalist in the grueling event at the Rio Games five years ago. Now, at age 27, he's the best in the world at using all four strokes.
Kieran Smith grabbed another medal for the Americans with bronze in the men's 400 freestyle. Tunisia's Ahmed Hafnaoui was the surprising winner from lane eight, while Australia's Jack McLoughlin settled for silver after leading much of the race.