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Missy Franklin, Allison Schmitt lead United States to 4×200 gold

Missy Franklin and friends brought home another gold medal Wednesday night at the Aquatics Centre.

The United States 4x200 freestyle relay team, led by the 17-year-old superstar, followed in the footsteps of their male teammates with a convincing victory over Australia and France. Allison Schmitt followed up her victory in the individual 200 freestyle with a blistering anchor leg to pass Australia and seal the victory.

[Photos: Teen swimming phenom Missy Franklin]

It was the second gold medal for Franklin and Schmitt and third medal overall. They were joined in the relay by another London gold medalist, Dana Vollmer.

Franklin led off the race and showed some signs of youthful exuberance and fatigue by taking it out quickly and fading over the final 50 meters. Vollmer, who set a world record in the 100 butterfly earlier this week, brought the U.S. to second place, which is where it remained until Schmitt dove in for the anchor leg.

[Related: China's Ye Shiwen wins gold]

The 22-year-old is a training partner of Michael Phelps, who anchored the men's relay victory on Tuesday to break the all-time Olympic medal record, and showed some of that same grit in her come-from-behind swim. She lingered in the wake of Australia's Alicia Coutts for the first 50 meters and then flashed by her like a slingshot to win the race by nearly 1.5 seconds.

Shannon Vreeland held her position in the third leg of the relay.

The United States has won the 4x200 in four of the five Olympics in which it has been contested. In 2008, a team featuring Schmitt on the leadoff finished in third place.

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