2025 World Championships: Day 6 Relay Analysis – GB Back On Top Of The World In The 4×200 Free

2025 World Championships

• July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
• Singapore, Singapore
• World Aquatics Championships Arena
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• How To Watch
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Entry Book
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5| Day 6
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

MEN’S 4X200 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINAL

• World Record: 6:58.55, United States – 2009
• World Junior Record: 7:08.37, United States – 2019
• Championship Record: 6:58.55, United States – 2009
• 2023 World Champion: Great Britain, 6:59.08
• 2024 Olympic Champion: Great Britain, 6:59.43

1. Great Britain, 6:59.84
2. China, 7:00.91 *Asian Record*
3. Australia, 7:00.98
4. United States, 7:01.24
5. South Korea, 7:02.29
6. France, 7:03.69
7. Italy, 7:05.54
8. Israel, 7:06.76

In a topsy-turvy race that had far more lead changes than we’ve seen in this event in recent years, Great Britain retained their crown, winning this race for the fourth time in five years. They broke seven minutes once again, holding off the field thanks to yet another big anchor leg from Duncan Scott. There have been eight swims under that barrier – Great Britain own half of them.

China broke the Asian Record to win silver, and the U.S. ended up falling off the podium as they finished 4th. Korea, with their stated aim of breaking the World Record, were 5th, albeit in the 3rd-fastest time in their nation’s history.

1st Leg – Lead-Off (Flat Start)

1. Matt Richards, GBR – 1:45.37
2. Carlos D’Ambrosio, ITA – 1:45.75
3. Flynn Southam, AUS – 1:45.85
4. Henry McFadden, USA – 1:46.09
5. Roman Fuchs, FRA – 1:46.11
6. Ji Xinjie CHN – 1:46.22
7. Kim Youngbeom, KOR- 1:46.23
8. Denis Loktev, ISR – 1:46.73

Matt Richards was in complete control of the first leg, dead level with Korean youngster Kim Youngbeom through the first 50 and holding a half body-length lead from around 75m onwards. He was faster than his individual swims here, but slower than his 1:45.35 from British Trials, and just over a second off his best of 1:44.30.

The field was bunched up behind the Brit, with the next six swimmers within half a second of each other. Carlos D’Ambrosio won that race to the finish, touching just ahead of Flynn Southam as they were the only two swimmers other than Richards to break 1:46.

Roman Fuchs set a new best for France, while Kim Youngbeom was a little off the 1:45.71 he swam in prelims.

Flying Splits

1. Luke Hobson, USA – 1:43.45
2. Duncan Scott, GBR – 1:43.82
3. Zhang Zhanshuo, CHN – 1:44.20
4. Leon Marchand, FRA – 1:44.34
5. Pan Zhanle, CHN – 1:44.41
6. Kai Taylor, AUS – 1:44.64
7. Kim Woomin, KOR – 1:44.66
8. Max Giuliani, AUS – 1:44.92
9. James Guy, GBR – 1:45.00
10. Hwang Sunwoo, KOR – 1:45.26
11. Charlie Hawke, AUS – 1:45.57
12. Daniel Krichevsky, ISR – 1:45.60
13. Jack McMillan, GBR – 1:45.65
14. Rex Maurer, USA – 1:45.82
15. Gabriel Jett, USA – 1:45.88
16. Filippo Megli, ITA – 1:45.91
17. Wang Shun, CHN – 1:46.08
18. Lee Hojoon, KOR – 1:46.14
19. Yann le Goff, FRA – 1:46.38
20. Marco de Tullio, ITA – 1:46.52
21. Rafael Fentre-Demers, FRA – 1:46.86
22. Yoav Romano, ISR – 1:47.01
23. Stefano di Cola, ITA – 1:47.36
24. Alexey Glivinskiy, ISR – 1:47.42

We saw a total of eight splits under the 1:45-mark, with a ninth at 1:45.00, with two sub-1:44. Prior to today there had only ever been one final with more than a single 1:43-point or better swim – Doha 2024 (how’s that for a trivia stat?) – and the eight flying splits under 1:45 are more than any final has ever had (2009 had seven with two sub-1:44 leadoffs).

Luke Hobson swam the joint-third fastest relay split in history tonight, dragging the U.S. from 6th to 1st over the course of his leg. He outsplit Great Britain’s Jack McMillan by 2.2 seconds and gave the U.S. hope going into the anchor leg, having gone out 49.70, and was the only one of the USA’s splits under 1:45.8.

Going out even faster than Hobson were Duncan Scott and Leon Marchand, who went out in matching 49.59s. The former, who Hobson tied as the #3 relay performer in history tonight, held on to go 1:43.82 for his third split under 1:44. The only other swimmer with more than one is teammate Tom Dean who has two, and, staggeringly, all five performances have come in the last five years, and all on the anchor leg of Great Britain’s relay.

Marchand couldn’t quite match Scott’s pace, but still split 1:44.34 for the 4th-fastest in the field and a new best for him, despite a 27.90 final 50. Ending up just quicker was Zhang Zhanshuo, who anchored China from 4th to 2nd on the final 50. He split his race differently to the three mentioned so far, going out 50.46 and then coming home 26.98/26.76 as he clocked 1:44.20, giving his nation two legs under 1:45, as Pan Zhanle was 1:44.41.

Zhang was 1.64 seconds faster than his flat start time and over a second quicker than his previous best-ever split of 1:45.37. He really has broken out this meet, finaling in the 400 free and just missing the final in the 200 already in Singapore. Pan was three seconds faster than he was in the individual 200 free, and seems to save his best at this distance for the relay.

The only other team to get a pair of 1:44s from their quartet was Australia, who finished just 0.13 seconds outside of the Oceanian Record. Charlie Hawke, who in his first world championships looks to be exactly the kind of glue guy that this relay often needs, was 1:45.57 to back up his 1:45.83 from this morning.

Kai Taylor dropped a second and a half from this morning to go 1:44.64, which was the split that really brought Australia into the race for gold. That gives him two exceptional relay performances this week after he split 47.04 on the 4×100 free relay. Max Giuliani was 1:44.92 anchoring, just being pipped by Zhang at the last but proving himself a valuable part of a second relay this week.

Korea, who have had all three of their flying legs here split 1:44-point or better before but never all at the same time, only got one this time with a 1:44.66 from Kim Woomin. Hwang Sunwoo had a 27.71 third 50 to take them out of contention for the medals and split 1:45.26, while Lee Hojoon, despite swimming the best he has all meet, was more than a second and a half off his best split of 1:44.53 and slower than his flat start best of 1:45.56.

Yann le Goff was a little slower than his 1:45.75 anchor this morning, while Raphael Fente-Demers was also slightly slower. However, with Marchand 3.35 seconds faster than Corentin Pouillart was this morning, they dropped more than three seconds overall.

For Italy, Filippo Megli dropped down into the 1:45’s but Stefano di Cola added just over a second as they were one of just two team to add time. Israel were the other, despite getting another 1:45-point anchor from Daniel Krichevsky (PB – 1:47.82) as their middle two legs swam 1:47s tonight after going 1:46 this morning.

Australia were the only team to have all three flying splits in the top half, but in the end China having two in the top five proved just too much. For Great Britain, Duncan Scott‘s 1:43.82 plus the fastest leadoff gave them enough of a cushion at either end.