To be fair the Australians were the defending champions (they won in London as well) and world/Olympic record holders prior to the final, so it wasn't a surprise. I had expected the Americans to be closer to them though (they were nearly a second slower than in Rio). Emma McKeon's 51.35 was the only really crazy leg in that final.The Australian women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay team won gold yesterday in the pool with a new world record of 3:29.69. They were 3 seconds ahead of second place with the rest of the field (positions 2-8) separated by only 3 seconds. In short they smashed everyone else.
If a doping nation (eg China, Russia etc) had been in first place in this race, would people be questioning the performance? The result doesn't look normal to me. I can't understand in a mature, highly competitive sport, how one team at the elite level can be so far ahead of everyone else.