Olympic Games, London 2012, Day 7 Heats

Women's 4x100 medley relay

The crowd at the London Aquatic Centre dug right into this one to make for two exciting heats.

In heat 1 China led of a dynamic field to the 100 only to be edged out by the Netherlands - who finished first in 3:59.19. China was second in 3:59.38, with Russia in third for 3:59.57.

In heat 2 Australia's B quartet clocked 3:55.42 to stay at the helm of heats that produced the first Olympic 4x100m medley final for which it took a sub-4min to qualify.

Japan put up a valiant fight to hold off the USA - with Denmark charging up at the end to nip the USA for third.

The results were as follows: AUS 3:55.42, JPN 3:57, DEN 3:58.35 in the top three lanes - Russia locked the final down at 3:59.57. Locked out was the Canadian squad that posted 4:02.71 to finish 12th.