Despite losing his goggles earlier in the morning preliminaries, and seeding 6th, Mering was in a good place come the finals. “I was feeling pretty relaxed and confident. I knew that I had a good race in me. I didn’t know if I was going to execute perfectly, but I felt like I had it,” said Mering. Although the race wasn’t over until Mering touched the wall at 47.91 seconds, Collins, watching impatiently, was confident that her teammates would take home the title after just a few strokes.