2024 World Championships Prelim Relay Lineups: Team GB Men Seeking Paris Qualification

2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 11th – February 18th
• Doha, Qatar
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Official Entries
• Live Results (Omega)

The prelims relay lineups for the women’s and men’s 4×100 free relays have been released, and many teams are swimming their top athletes in prelims.

Relays here in Doha are of the upmost importance, as they determine the majority of qualifiers for the Paris Olympics. Per the qualification system, which can be found here, there will be a maximum of 16 qualified teams in each relay event.

The top 3 from each relay in Fukuoka earned automatic qualification, while the remaining 13 teams will be selected by using the fastest times combined between the 2023 Worlds and this competition. Should the last qualifying spot result in a tie, a swim-off would occur to determine the final invitation.

Women’s 4×100 Free Relay

The defending champions in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, Australia, only return one of their four swimmers from the Fukuoka final. That swimmer is Shayna Jack, and she will anchor the Aussies this morning. Butterfly specialist Alexandria Perkins, backstroke phenom Jaclyn Barclay, and breaststroker Abbey Harkin will join her on the prelims relay. Brianna Throssell, who owns a best time in the 53-second range, is widely expected to join the finals quartet. Australia has won this event at the past three editions of this meet, and are favored to keep that streak alive come tonight’s final.

The Netherlands will swim next to Australia in heat 2, and their quartet consists of Kim Busch, Milou van Wijk, Janna Van Kooten, and Kira Toussaint. Look for Marrit Steenbergen to join the final’s line-up later today, as she medaled in the individual 100 free in Fukuoka.

Canada’s morning squad is comprised of Rebecca Smith, Sarah Fournier, Ella Jansen, and Taylor Ruck. Ruck recently made the move to train with the ASU pro group, so this meet will be her first major check-in following the coaching change.

Of note, breaststroke world record holder Ruta Meilutyte will lead-off for Lithuania in heat two. She contested freestyle events individually at the London 2012 Olympics, so it will be interesting to see what she clocks on the opening leg.

The top seeded entrant in the individual 100 free, Siobhan Haughey, is notably absent from Hong Kong’s relay.

Kayla Sanchez, who recently changed her sporting citizenship from Canada to Phillippines, will lead off in heat one. She has helped Canada win multiple medals in this relay in past years, so look for her split on the opening leg.

Men’s 4×100 Free Relay

The Australian men have opted to scratch this event, and are the defending champions from Fukuoka. However, Team GB will feature prominently in heat 1, lane 0. Their lineup consists of Jacob Whittle, Tom Dean, Duncan Scott, and Matthew Richards. They are notably leading off with Whittle, who jumped a bit early in the Fukuoka heats. Team GB were the early favorites for gold in Fukuoka, prior to their prelim DQ, and are still seeking Paris qualification in this relay.

Team Italy will feature a very strong relay in the heats, as they are going with Lorenzo Zazzeri, Paolo Conte Bonin, Leonardo Deplano, andAlessandro Miressi. Zazzeri and Miressi return from last year’s silver medal winning relay.

Team USA submitted a lineup ofHunter Armstrong, Jack Aikins, Luke Hobson, andCarson Foster. Expect Matt King to be substituted into the lineup tonight, as he anchored the bronze medal winning relay in Fukuoka last year.

FULL LINEUPS

Women’s 4×100 Free Relay:

Heat 1:

• Lane 1 – Chinese Taipei (Mei-Chien Huang, Yi-En Wu, Pei-Wun Lin, Applejean Gwinn)
• Lane 2 – Phillippines (Kayla Sanchez, Jasmine Alkhaldi, Xiandi Chua, Teia Isabella Salvino)
• Lane 3 – Brazil (Ana Carolina Vieira, Stephanie Balduccini, MF da Silva Costa de Oliveira, Aline Rodrigues)
• Lane 4 – China (Lyu Yue, Ma Yonghui, Gong Zhenqi, Ai Yanhan)
• Lane 5 – Canada (Rebecca Smith, Sarah Fournier, Ella Jansen, Taylor Ruck)
• Lane 6 – Ireland (Erin Riordan, Grace Davison, Maria Godden, Victoria Catterson)
• Lane 7 – Serbia (Katarina Milutinovic, Nina Stanisavljevic, Janna Markovic, Martina Bukvic)

Heat 2:

• Lane 1 – Slovenia (Neza Klancar, Janja Segel, Katja Fain, Hana Sekuti)
• Lane 2 – Lithuania (Ruta Meilutyte, Sylvia Statkevicius, Patricija Geriksonaite, Smilte Plytnykaite)
• Lane 3 – Italy (Sofia Morini, Costanza Cocconcelli, Emma Virginia Menicucci, Chiara Tarantino)
• Lane 4 – Australia (Alexandria Perkins, Jaclyn Barclay, Abbey Harkin, Shayna Jack)
• Lane 5 – Netherlands (Kim Busch, Milou van Wijk, Janna Van Kooten, Kira Toussaint)
• Lane 6 – Hong Kong (Hoi Lam Tam, Camille Lily Mei Cheng, Stephanie Au, Sum Yiu Li)
• Lane 7 – Poland (Zuzanna Famulok, Julia Maik, Aleksandra Polanska, Kornelia Fiedkiewicz)

Men’s 4×100 Free Relay:

Heat 1:

• Lane 0 – Bulgaria (Josif Miladinov, Kaloyan Bratanov, Petar Mitsin, Yordan Yanchev)
• Lane 1 – Lithuania (Tomas Navikonis, Daniil Pancerevas, Tomas Lukminas, Rokas Jazdauskas)
• Lane 2 – Singapore (Mikkel Lee, Jonathan Tan, Ardi Azman, Darren Lim)
• Lane 3 – Spain (Luis Dominguez, Sergio de Celis Montalban, Mario Molla Yanes)
• Lane 4 – United States (Hunter Armstrong, Jack Aikins, Luke Hobson, Carson Foster)
• Lane 5 – Canada (Javier Acevedo, Finlay Knox, Antoine Sauve, Stephen Calkins)
• Lane 6 – Hungary (Szebasztian Szabo, Daniel Meszaros, Adam Jaszo, Nandor Nemeth)
• Lane 7 – Sweden (Robin Hanson, Bjoern Seeliger, Isak Eliasson, Marcus Holmquist)
• Lane 8 – Thailand (Dulyawat Kaewsriyong, Navaphat Wongcharoen, Ratthawit Thammananthachote, Tonnam Kanteemool)

Heat 2:

• Lane 0 – Great Britain (Jacob Whittle, Tom Dean, Duncan Scott, Matthew Richards)
• Lane 1 – Mexico (Andreas Dupont Cabrera, Hector Rubalcaba, Jose Martinez, Jorge Iga)
• Lane 2 – Poland (Kamil Sieradzki, Ksawery Masiuk, Mateusz Chowaniec, Kacper Majchrzak)
• Lane 3 – Republic of Korea (Jaehoon Yang, Yuchan Ji, Yooyeon Lee, Minsuk Kim)
• Lane 4 – Italy (Lorenzo Zazzeri, Paolo Conte Bonin, Leonardo Deplano, Alessandro Miressi)
• Lane 5 – China (Wang Haoyu, Ji Xinjie, Zhang Zhanshou , Pan Zhanle)
• Lane 6 – Serbia (Velimir Stjepanovic, Andrej Barna, Uros Nikolic, Nikola Acin)
• Lane 7 – Greece (Apostolos Christou, Stergios Marios Bilas, Kristian Gkolomeev, Andreas Vazaios)
• Lane 8 – Vietnam (Hung Nguyen Tran, Huy Hoang Nguyen, Ding Chuyen Ngo, Quang Thuan Nguyen)
• Lane 9 – Slovakia (Tibor Tistan, Matej Dusa, Richard Nagy Frantisek Jablcnik)