2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
- Meet site
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Live results
Mixed 4×100 Free Relay
- World Record: 3:19.60, USA (Dressel/Adrian/Comerford/Manuel), 2017
- World Championships Record: 3:19.60 USA (Dressel/Adrian/Comerford/Manuel), 2017
- Defending 2017 World Champion: 3:19.60, USA (Dressel/Adrian/Comerford/Manuel)
The Australians have dominated the women’s 4×100 free relay for years, and with their men surging forward, they’re the team to beat in this mixed 4×100 free relay.
Note: the composite times listed below are only as good as our research could make them. For individual times, we chose to use best times last season (September 2017 through August 2018) and already this season (September 2018 through the present). That obviously throws out some key summer 2017 times, but we’ll try to note those where we can. The relay splits listed are the best splits we could find in digging through 2017 Worlds, 2018 Commonwealths, 2018 Asian Games, 2018 European Championships and 2018 Pan Pacs. It’s very possible someone went a faster split further back or at a different meet. Feel free to note those in the comment section, but know that our research is only taking into account those major meets over the last two seasons.
For their women’s legs, the Aussies have twin sledgehammers. Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell are both former world champs in the 100 free (Cate in 2013; Bronte in 2015) and both elite relay swimmers. Cate Campbell at one point held the world record, and split an absurd 50.9 last summer. Bronte has been as fast as 52-low individually and split 51.5 last year. It’s clear that if the race is at all close after the two male swimmers finish (the preferred strategy on these mixed relays is man-man-woman-woman to get a lead and maximize clean water), no one will be overcoming the Australians.
It’s a good bet they’ll have that lead, too, as Kyle Chalmers is arguably the best man in the field, too. The 2016 Olympic champ has been 47.35 from a flat start this year and split 46.9 at Pan Pacs last summer. He’s probably leading off, and if he does, there are only handful of swimmers in the world who can keep up with him, much less build a lead against him. Their preferred fourth leg would be Jack Cartwright, but he’s not on the Worlds roster. Clyde Lewis (48.4 this year) and Cameron McEvoy (48.4 last year) are the next-best options.
| Swimmer | Best Individual Time | w/ Relay splits |
| Kyle Chalmers | 47.35 | 47.35 |
| Cameron McEvoy | 48.44 | 48.44 |
| Cate Campbell | 52.03 | 50.93 |
| Bronte Campbell | 52.27 | 51.57 |
| 3:20.09 | 3:18.29 |
The United States, meanwhile, are the world record-holders and remain undefeated in the mixed free relay at the World Championships. The event was introduced in 2015, with Team USA touching out the Netherlands by .05 seconds, and the Americans won the 2017 gold by more than two full seconds, with most of Australia’s stars not active.
Much of the American potential rests on probable leadoff leg Caeleb Dressel. The standout was 47.1 individually back in 2017, but a motorcycle injury wrecked his summer of 2018, where he went just 48.2 individually and lost to Chalmers at Pan Pacs. Dressel has already been 47.87 this season, though, and looks back to form. If he’s 47-mid, this relay still needs big-time performances from its other three legs to challenge for gold; if he’s back on the 46/47 barrier, this suddenly becomes a race.
The competition for the other men’s spot should be fierce. The mixed free relay comes after all the individual 100 frees and both the men’s and women’s 4×100 free relays, so at least Team USA will get to make an informed decision. Blake Pieroni (48.0) was the fastest American last year, even besting Dressel. On the other hand, Zach Apple just blasted a 47.7 (individually, plus a 47.5 relay split) at World University Games, and is on the Worlds roster as a relay-only swimmer. Nathan Adrian could be in the mix – the veteran has split 47.2 before, but missed some training this year in treatment for testicular cancer. Townley Haas and Michael Chadwick are both options too. (And before anyone wonders, Dean Farris is not. Despite a 47.0 split at World University Games, he is not on the American roster for Worlds). All that is to say the Americans will probably find a 47-mid split – they just have to make the call on who.
The women’s spots have been fairly locked-down lately by Simone Manuel and Mallory Comerford. Manuel has split 52.1 and Comerford 52.7, though Comerford was 52.5 from a flat start at Worlds. One or both probably have to be 51-high to have any hope of holding off the Campbell train for gold.
| Swimmer | Best Individual Times | w/ Relay Splits |
| Caeleb Dressel | 47.86 | 47.86 |
| Zach Apple | 47.79 | 47.55 |
| Simone Manuel | 52.54 | 52.14 |
| Mallory Comerford | 52.94 | 52.71 |
| 3:21.13 | 3:20.26 |
The Dutch have taken bronze in this event at the past two World Championships, and their roster stacks up really well for this specific event. The Netherlands feature two of the best women’s freestylers out there: Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.2 individually and owner of a 51.9 split back at 2017 Worlds) and Femke Heemskerk (53.2 individually and owner of a 52.3 split). Their men are just good enough to stay in contention: Kyle Stolk should be swimming only relays at Worlds, and split 47.8 back in 2017. Nyls Korstanje is rising, and has a 48.8 leadoff to his credit. That front half isn’t going to build a lead over anyone, but they just have to stay close enough, because their back half can probably outdo anyone besides Australia if they’re on.
| Swimmer | Best Individual Times | w/ Relay Splits |
| Nyls Korstanje | 48.87 | 48.87 |
| Kyle Stolk | 49.20 | 47.80 |
| Femke Heemskerk | 53.23 | 52.33 |
| Ranomi Kromowidjojo | 53.29 | 51.98 |
| 3:24.59 | 3:20.98 |
While those three are the medal favorites, Canada and Great Britain both have young rosters with chances to upset for hardware.
Canada has the red-hot Taylor Ruck, who broke out last summer at both Commonwealths and Pan Pacs. Ruck split 51.7 at the latter and 51.8 at the former and went 52.7 individually. She’s joined by Olympic champ Penny Oleksiak – the 19-year-old hasn’t matched her 52.7 from that Olympic win in the years since, but did split 52.9 at Worlds in 2017. With a somewhat lighter Worlds lineup this time around, Oleksiak could put up another 52-second split, though her best time over the past two seasons is only 53.6. Markus Thormeyer is another fast riser (48.7 individually), and Yuri Kisil has been a solid presence on Canada’s relays. He split 47.8 last summer.
| Swimmer | Best Individual Times | w/ Relay Splits | |
| CAN | Markus Thormeyer | 48.76 | 48.76 |
| 3:23.87 | Yuri Kisil | 48.79 | 47.89 |
| 3:21.33 | Taylor Ruck | 52.72 | 51.70 |
| Penny Oleksiak | 53.60 | 52.98 | |
| 3:23.87 | 3:21.33 |
Great Britain should get a killer leadoff from Duncan Scott (47.8), and James Guy split 48.3 at Commonwealths last summer. Their women have tremendous upside, but will need big personal bests to push this team to a medal. Freya Anderson has a 52.6 split from last summer’s Euros, and Anna Hopkin split 53.8 at Commonwealths.
| Swimmer | Best Individual Times | w/ Relay Splits |
| Duncan Scott | 47.87 | 47.87 |
| James Guy | 49.53 | 48.30 |
| Freya anderson | 53.61 | 52.69 |
| Anna Hopkin | 54.02 | 53.82 |
| 3:25.03 | 3:22.68 |
France actually put up the fastest time in the world in this relay last year, but that is partially a product of Pan Pacs and Commonwealths not featuring the relay in their lineups. Mehdy Metella (48.2 individually, 47.4 split) and Charlotte Bonnet (52.7 individually, 52.2 split) are great bookends. They’ll need to choose between Jeremy Stravius, who led off in 48.8 en route to Euros gold last year, and Clement Mignon, who has been 48.4 individually. Then it’ll be up to Marie Wattel to improve on her 53.5 individual time.
Russia is probably one woman short of pushing the top medal contenders. Vladislav Grinev (47.4) and Vladimir Morozov (47.4 split at Euros) are one of the field’s better front halves. Mariia Kameneva (53.3 split) can hold her own, but Veronika Andrusenko has only been 54.2 individually, and that would get swallowed up by the monster women’s splits elsewhere in this field.
China is in a similar situation, with a slightly worse male duo. He Junyi (48.1) and Yu Hexin (47.3 split at Asian Games) will hold their own. Zhu Menghui (53.0 split) should be OK, and the fourth spot is probably Yang Junxuan, who has been just 54.1 individually, but did split 53.6 last year.
Beyond that are a few longshots to make the final. In this relay in particular, teams without a true medal chance may elect to swim an off lineup and rest their stars. One of the above teams doing so could allow one of these next teams into the final.
With Rikako Ikee out, Japan will struggle for two good women’s legs. If and when she returns down the road, this could be a pretty good relay. Katsumi Nakamura can go 47 individually, and Shinri Shioura split 47.9 at Asian Games. Meanwhile Tomomi Aoki is improving steadily. She split 54.1 at 2017 Worlds and then 54.0 and 53.5 at Pan Pacs last summer.
Italy just has one leg to iron out. Alessandro Miressi (47.9) is great, and Luca Dotto (48.4) can hold his own. Federica Pellegrini (53.3 split) is a wily vet, but the Italians don’t appear to have their next-best women’s choices (Sylvia di Pietro, Nicoletta Ruberti) on the roster.
Same goes for Hungary, which has a pair of 55s (Zsuzsanna Jakabos and Katinka Hosszu) that will have to make some tough decisions with potentially busy lineups. The men’s portion of this relay (47.1 split Nandor Nemeth and 48.1 leadoff from ’17 Worlds Dominik Kozma) is outstanding.
Annika Bruhn is coming on strong for Germany, splitting 52.8. Damian Wierling has split 47.7 and Marius Kusch dropped to 48.7 individually this year. They’ll need a big split from Isabel Gose (54.6 individually).
Brazil has a stable of elite men’s sprinters, including two men who have been 46 before: Marcelo Chierighini and Pedro Spajari. But they don’t appear to have enough women on their roster to go after this relay, unless Etiene Medeiros can swim twice.
TOP 8 PICKS:
| Place | Country | Best Time Since June 2017 |
2017 Worlds Finish
|
| 1 | Australia | 3:25.51 | 8th |
| 2 | USA | 3:19.60 | 1st |
| 3 | Netherlands | 3:21.81 | 2nd |
| 4 | Canada | 3:23.55 | 3rd |
| 5 | Great Britain | 3:37.82 | N/A |
| 6 | France | 3:22.07 | N/A |
| 7 | Russia | 3:24.50 | 7th |
| 8 | China | 3:29.42 | 9th |
On paper, this looks like another USA v AUS shoot-out for gold with a lottery for bronze but the “million dollar question” was not asked by the author; namely “how seriously will AUS approach this relay given it is not an Olympic event ?”
USA will take this seriously and will use most if not all of their guns and they have the requisite strength in depth to safely rest them for heats.
AUS has this on the women’s side but aside from Chalmers, the men have not been quick. Its going to come down to whether they feel its worth throwing another swim at:
– Chalmers: 2 indiv events plus 3 mens relay with only 4×200 having depth… Read more »
Even Emma McKeon is a great choice for the Aussies she’s gone a great pb at world trials and she’s got the individual swim
was thinking the same thing…if shes swimming well put her on
I doubt AUS will take this event seriously. They never did.
McEvoy’s Pb is the textile suit WR 47.04!
We limited our composite charts to best times over the past two seasons to give a more accurate picture of where each swimmer is right now (and to make the relay split research more manageable).
Better to be chasing someone down on the final lap – that’s why studs usually swim anchor (unless they have great flat starts). I would expect a few teams to put a male on the back end.
As much as that’s more fun to watch, I think it’s more common at the highest levels to put your best swimmer on leadoff, because it’s much easier to swim with a lead and in clean water. At 2017 Worlds, every team in the top 8 used a man-man-woman-woman order in both prelims and finals, and 19 of the 21 prelims relays did the same. The two teams that didn’t finished 18th and 21st.
That’s actually rarely the case any more at the top levels (I think it’s still popular amongst summer league coaches, though). Very few teams use their best swimmers on the anchor anymore. At Worlds in 2017, US had theirs lead off, Brazil had theirs #2, Hungary had theirs anchor, Russia had theirs #2, Japan had theirs #2, Canada had theirs #1 & #2, Australia had their #3…more people these days seem to buy in to the “clean water” theory, with the exception of best starter goes first, period.
I think countries and coaches shouldn’t feel pressured to have to swim their A team in the mixed relays. How many 100frees does Caeleb and Simone need to do?
Right, Simone can get 5 gold medals from just the 100 free, seems a little much
Comerford already did in 2017 lol
Looking for a valid argument on why this should be an event. No other olympic sport combines men and women. What about the well-being of the athletes competing in so many events? What will Phelps amazing feat mean if Dressel beats it with two mixed relay Golds?
Pros: USA wants to pad their medal count, Everyone likes relays. Another opportunity for the relay only swimmers. A team without depth can medal.
Cons: same results as the men’s and women’s relays, men and women shouldnt race against one another. There is already too many events.
“USA wants to pad their medal count,”
Sorry but these are up for grabs for everyone…don’t hate…beat us
“No other olympic sport combines men and women”
Honestly, who cares? We’re not every other sport.
Frankly, I’m looking forward to this relay more than any other relay…i think eventually when this event gets added to the Olympics (not sure why this wasn’t added over the medley anyway) it will become one of, if not thee main event
Equestrian – male and female together
Diving has mixed synchro 3m springboard, 10m platform, and a mixed gender team event..
So does open water swimming. In fact, the 1900 Olympics had several mixed-sex sports. There’s a mixed biathlon relay. Figure skating has mixed-sex competition. Synchro does as well (not at the Olympic level – yet). Curling and Alpine Skiing do as well. Mixed doubles table tennis (which has been a part of the table tennis world for decades on decades on decades) will debut at the 2020 Games as well.
It looks like if the Australians all have perfect swims they will have a good shot at winning that relay