(L-R) Stephanie Rice, Linda Mackenzie, Bronte Barratt and Kylie Palmer of Australia pose with their gold medals after winning the women's 4x200m freestyle relay swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 14, 2008. [Agencies]

Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice led off the race and finished second after the first leg. But teammate Bronte Barratt caught up and the team kept the lead ever since, leaving other teams battling for the silver and bronze.

The Australians won gold in seven minutes, 44.31 seconds, chopping almost five seconds off the previous world record set by the U.S. team in 2007.

Chinese quartet occupied the second place since the second leg with the United States following closely behind. The biggest threat came in the third leg when U.S. swimmer Caroline Burckle bridged the gap to almost a fingertip difference.

China's anchor Pang Jiaying, who won a bronze in women's 200m freestyle relay Wednesday and was disqualified in 100m freestyle this morning, widened her lead over U.S. swimmer Kati Hoff and secured the silver in 7:45.93.

"We are quite cofident after yesterday's heats. And Liu (Zige)'s gold greatly bolstered our morale," Pang said. China's Liu Zige won gold in women's 200m buttery Thursday morning.

"As people's expectations are going higher, we need to keep cool and be ourselves. We shouldn't give ourselves to much pressure," Pang said.