Stunning last leg from Franklin gives US relay gold

BARCELONA, Spai - A powerful last 200 meters by Missy Franklin gave the American 4x200 meters women's relay team gold in the FINA world championships in Barcelona.

The Americans had trailed the Australian quartet of Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer, Brittney Elmsley and Alicia Coutts for most of the race, but despite diving into the pool around a second behind Coutts, Franklin again showed why many consider her to be the star of the meet as she led the Americans to victory ahead of Australia with France in third.

Franklin swam a stunning 1:54.27 for the last 200 meters, almost two second faster than the next fastest swimmer in the race. The win means she now has four gold medals from Barcelona and has a chance of ending with a clean sweep of seven golds, while 16 year-old Katie Ledecky has a chance of finishing with four.

The 16-year-old, who has already won gold in the 400 and 1,500 meters freestyle, swam the leadout leg for the US team and is favorite to in the 800 meter freestyle whose heats start on Friday morning with the final on Saturday night.

Shannon Vreeland and Karlee Bispo were the other members of the US team.

Meanwhile the Chinese team finished just out the medals, coming in fourth eight seconds behind the winners.