NANTERRE, France (AP) — The Australian women are the most confident swimmers and they showed it on Saturday on the first night at the Olympic pool in Paris.

They took home two gold medals, with Ariarne Titmus leading the way in the 400m freestyle, and the quartet won another gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay, their fourth consecutive Olympic victory in that event.

Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a time of 3 minutes and 28.92 seconds.

“I think as the years go by, the standards just keep getting higher,” McKeon said. “I mean, you look at the history of this event for Australia and everyone wants to be a part of it and everyone works really hard to be a part of it and the standards, the bar, just keeps getting higher. I think that’s probably what makes this team stronger.”

The victory was especially sweet for McKeon, 30, who was swimming in her last Olympics. Three years ago, she won seven medals in Tokyo, including four gold. It also brought her gold medal total to six, starting at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Australian women’s clash with the United States will be a spectacle in the pool all nine days, with an early lead over their No. 1 rivals.

“For me it’s definitely about standing up there and making my country proud,” Jack said. “It’s a really special moment to be up there with the other three girls.”

The US claimed gold in the final event of the first night in the pool, winning the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay with Caeleb Dressel on the last leg. The Australians settled for silver.

Katie Ledecky gave the Americans bronze in the 400-meter freestyle – her 10th Olympic medal, including six gold – and the U.S. women took silver in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay in 3:30.20 with Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel.

China finished third.

When it comes to the 4x100m freestyle relay, the Australian women are used to gold.

Especially McKeon, who has won 12 medals in her career.

“I think I was 17 when I missed London (for the 2012 Olympics). You never would have told me I would continue to do this,” McKeon said. “It’s just that perseverance, you have ups and downs and you just keep going and you keep ticking the boxes and doing everything you can.

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