2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 23 to 30, 2023
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Marine Messe Fukuoka
- LCM (50m)
- WORLD CHAMPS WATCH PARTY – DAILY
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Entry Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Day 5 Prelims Live Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap
- Day 6 Prelims Live Recap | Day 6 Finals Live Recap
- Day 7 Prelims Live Recap | Day 7 Finals Live Recap
- Day 8 Prelims Live Recap | Day 8 Finals Live Recap
MEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – FINAL
- World Record: United States – 3:26.78 (2021)
- Championship Record: United States –
3:27.28 (2009) - World Junior Record: Russian Federation – 3:33.19 (2019)
- 2022 Winning Time: Italy – 3:27.51
Top 8:
- USA – 3:27.20
- China – 3:29.00
- Australia – 3:29.62
- France – 3:29.88
- Great Britain – 3:30.16
- Japan – 3:32.58
- Canada – 3:32.61
- Germany – 3:32.91
The American quartet of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Dare Rose, and Jack Alexy combined to take out the super-suited record from 2009. Heading into the final, there were a few questions surrounding how much of an impact Qin Haiyang’s breaststroke split could cut into the American’s chances of victory, but as you’ll see below, it didn’t do as much as expected,
Backstroke Splits (Flat Start)
- Ryan Murphy (USA) -52.04
- Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (FRA)- 53.21
- Oliver Morgan (GBR) – 53.25
- Bradley Woodward (AUS) – 53.38
- Xu Jiayu (CHN) – 53.39
- Ryosuke Irie (JPN) – 53.71
- Ole Braunschweig (GER) – 54.16
- Javier Acevedo (CAN) – 54.35
American backstroke dominance was on full display here again. Murphy was the only swimmer who made the 100 back final and improved their time as the week progressed; he won gold in 52.22. Both Yohann Ndoye-Brouard and Xu Jiayu added over half a second from their time in the final. Oliver Morgan and Bradley Woodward had impressive swims. Despite each not making the final of the 100 back, they improved upon their semifinals time (53.6 and 53.73) as well as their times from this morning (53.74 and 53.64)
Breaststroke Splits (Rolling Start)
- Qin Haiyang (CHN) – 57.43 (2)
- Nic Fink (USA) – 58.03 (1)
- James Wilby (GBR) – 58.48 (3)
- Lucas Matzerath (GER) -58.70 (6)
- Leon Marchand (FRA) – 59.00 (4)
- Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) – 59.25 (5)
- Ippei Watanabe (JPN) – 59.41 (7)
- James Dergousoff (CAN) – 1:00.03 (8)
Qin carried his momentum from the beginning of the week thru until the end. He had the fastest split in the field and moved China into 2nd place after having been in 5th. Nic Fink, however, did more than was expected of him. Qin only improved by .26 over his individual swim while Fink improved by .69, and with the 1.3-second lead that Murphy opened up on the Chinese, the Americans were able to carry the lead into the fly.
Having a massive swim here was Great Britain’s James Wilby. His split tonight of 58.48 was over a second faster than his individual swim and his swim in the prelims.
Butterfly Splits (Rolling Start)
- Maxime Grousset (FRA) – 49.27 (2)
- Matt Temple (AUS) – 50.10 (4)
- Dare Rose (USA) – 50.13 (1)
- Josh Liendo (CAN) – 50.66 (8)
- Naoki Mizunuma (JPN) – 51.26 (6)
- Jacob Peters (GBR) – 51.50 (5)
- Wang Changhao (CHN) – 51.56 (3)
- Eric Friese (GER) – 52.16 (8)
Grousset’s #2 split of all time brought France back into the medal conversation, but Dare Rose’s 50.13 was enough to keep the USA in the lead by over a second. China’s weak leg, the fly, saw them fall a full two seconds behind the USA team.
Freestyle Splits (Rolling Start)
- Pan Zhanle (CHN) – 46.62 (2)
- Kyle Chalmers (AUS) – 46.89 (3)
- Matt Richards (GBR) – 46.93 (6)
- Jack Alexy (USA) – 47.00 (1)
- Ruslan Gaziev (CAN) – 47.57 (7)
- Josha Salchow (GER) – 47.89 (8)
- Katsuhiro Matsumoto (JPN) – 48.20 (7)
- Hadrien Salvan (FRA) – 48.40 (4)
Alexy was as close as one could be to joining the sub-47 club but fell just short. Despite having the 4th fastest split, the American lead was too large (not even a 45 flat would have caught the USA). The most significant takeaway is France’s need to develop a 100 freestyler. Hadrien Salvan’s 48.40 is just not competitive enough to be in the medal hunt.
Strange that 95% of the comments in this thread are about the GB team lol
In Fukuoka, the men took their stance,
A thrilling relay, a fiery dance,
Ryan Murphy’s backstroke,
Sent the rivals in shock,
With a record, USA led the advance.
Pan was really stellar!
The lack of drug testing probably helps
James Guy ought to have swum the ‘fly.
I think Team GB’s policy is to select/give the opportunity to whoever swims faster in the individual event?
Sadly, yes, that 0.04 advantage that Peters had due to the swim off, probably cost us a medal.
Is the swim off really why? That is daft. Guy finished higher in the semis.
I know! I am mystified, particularly given his amazing history in relays!
Wilby! Where was he hiding this?
Adam Peaty’s shadow was so long nobody could spot it before
A wise decision to not swim the 200. A shame our ‘flyer didn’t perform. We could/should have got a medal.
Not swimming the 200 to get 5th in the relay is not a wise decision.
I’m fairness to Wilby, he did his bit to get GB a medal, but Peter’s split was slower than he did from a flat start. Otherwise you would probably be saying it was a wise decision to skip the 200 if GB snuck a bronze.
They ought to have/were expected to get Bronze. He would have needed a (very unlikely) PB to get a bronze in the 200 final.
Wilby has been world class for years.
I wish he had swum the 200. Other countries don’t sacrifice so many of their individual events for relays. Most other countries seem to manage both….
No Wilby in the 200 Br. Abbie Wood only in the 200 free. 200 free????
Really surprised james Guy was actually allowed to do individual 100 fly in same session as 4 x 200 free relay.
My guess is that Abbie knew her chances of a medal in the 200 breast were slim, and they wanted to qualify for Paris in the 4 x 2 free relay. Neither she nor Wilby entered the 200 breast.
Wood didn’t swim the 200 breast at the trials. But she did qualify for the IM where she ought to have been a Final threat, and she didn’t swim it.
But she chose to not enter it. Maybe she wanted a change?
I cannot even begin to imagine the disappointment of just missing out on an Olympic medal. Perhaps she feels (along with the coaches) that targeting the 4 x 2 relay makes the chances of getting one higher? There is a lot more competition now in her favoured individual events. Look how well things worked out when GB targeted the men’s 4 x 2 some years ago.