Consider the U.S. women’s water polo team is 127-4 going back to 2015. Then it’s no surprise it became the first nation to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
The Americans won a sixth straight FINA World League Super Final title, beating Italy 10-9 on Sunday to grab the first available Olympic berth.
The U.S. hasn’t dropped a game at an Olympics, World Championship, World Cup or a World League Super Final since the 2015 World Championship, which they went on to win anyway.
Next summer, the U.S. women will try to join the Hungarian men and the British men as the only teams to win three straight Olympic water polo titles.
Two of the three youngest players on the Rio Olympic team starred in particular in at the World League Super Final in Budapest.
Maddie Musselman, 20, was the Super Final MVP. Makenzie Fischer, also 20, was player of the match against Italy.
The roster included nine of the 13 Rio Olympians, headlined by Maggie Steffens, MVP of the last two Olympics, and guided by Adam Krikorian, who has been at the helm for a decade.
The U.S. heads to the world championship next month in Gwangju, South Korea, with a chance to become the first male or female team to win three straight titles.
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