2023 World Championships: Night Six Relay Analysis

2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 23 to 30, 2023
• Fukuoka, Japan
• Marine Messe Fukuoka
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• Day 5 Prelims Live Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap
• Day 6 Prelims Live Recap | Day 6 Finals Live Recap

MEN’S 4×200 FREESTYLE RELAY — FINAL

• World Record: 6:58.55 — United States (2009)
• Championship Record: 6:58.55 — United States (2009)
• World Junior Record: 7:08.37 — United States (2019)
• 2022 Time to Medal: 7:04.00

Top 8:

1. Great Britain (Scott, Richards, Guy, Dean) — 6:59.08
2. United States (Hobson, Foster, Mitchell, Smith) — 7:00.02
3. Australia (Taylor, Chalmers, Graham, Neill) — 7:02.13
4. France — 7:03.86
5. Italy — 7:03.95
6. South Korea — 7:04.07
7. Germany — 7:06.14
8. Brazil — 7:06.43

The men from Great Britain won the 4×200 freestyle relay on night 6 of the 2023 World Championships, eclipsing the US men by about a second to finish in a time of 6:59.08. Despite Great Britain having a clear advantage over the first 200 meters thanks to Kai Taylor’s lead-off split of 1:45.42, the US managed to reel the Brits back in with Carson Foster and Jake Mitchell throwing down splits of 1:44.49 and 1:45.06, respectively. Over the final 200, Tom Dean managed to pull ahead of Kieran Smith to touch first, smoking a 1:43.84 split, the fastest rolling-split of the race. With their final time of 6:59.08, Great Britain came in only a half second shy of the world record, which was set by the US back in 2009. The Americans, notably, finished under the time that they won gold with last year, finishing in 7:00.02. 

Here’s a look at all of the different splits across the field to get a better idea about the results. 

TOP FLAT START SPLITS

Germany got off to a blazing start thanks to Lukas Martens, who had the fastest flat start split in the field with a 1:44.79. His split was the only one in the field under 1:45 on this leg, leading all of the other swimmers by over a half second. Duncan Scott also threw down a decent 1:45.42 split, the second fastest flat start time, while Luke Hobson struggled, splitting 1:46.00 after swimming a personal best 1:44.87 in the semi-finals of the 200 freestyle earlier this week. 

TOP FLYING START SPLITS

As previously mentioned, 200 freestyle silver medalist Tom Dean had the fastest flying start split in the field, dropping a 1:43.84 on the anchor leg of Great Britain’s relay. Surprisingly, 200 freestyle World Champion Matthew Richards only split a 1:44.65 on the second leg for Great Britain after winning the individual event in a time of 1:44.30. 

The Americans had the 2nd and 3rd fastest flying splits in the field thanks to Foster and Smith. Notably, their strategy to move Jake Mitchell onto the finals relay after his 1:46.11 anchor leg in the heats paid off, as he dropped a massive 1:45.06 on the third leg for the US, the 9th-fastest flying split in the field. 

Overall, 8 swimmers in the field split under 1:45 off of a flying start, with 2 from Great Britain, the US, and South Korea getting under the mark.