2025 World Championships: Seven Takeaways From The Women’s 4×100 Free Relay

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 | Day 7 | Day 8
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8

Marrit Steenbergen The Best Relay Freestyler ITW?

Marrit Steenbergen had three sub-52 splits here in Singapore, with another just over at 52.13. She dragged the Netherlands to bronze in this relay, out splitting every other anchor by at least a second.

She had similar form in 2023, and although she dipped slightly on relays in 2024 is back to her best again in 2025. No one else broke 52 seconds more than once here, with Steenbergen (3) having more 51-point splits than everyone else combined (2).

She is now the owner of the fastest non-Australian relay split in history, with only Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon and Shauna Jack having ever been faster than the 51.64 she posted in the final of this relay.

One of only two world champions from Doha to defend their crown in Singapore, Steenbergen has made good on the promise she showed as a junior. After a few years in the wilderness for the Dutch, they have another big-time relay swimmer in the mould of Femke Heemskerk, Marlene Veldhuis, Inge de Bruijn, and Ranomi Kromowidjojo.

A Single Big Split Can Be The Difference

Sticking with Steenbergen, her split showed just how much of an effect a swimmer like her can have. There were three 51-point swims in the field, and except for Meg Harris (51.87) and Kate Douglass (51.90) matching each other stroke for stroke on the second leg, no one else in the field was able to stay remotely close to them.

The Netherlands had the slowest and fifth-slowest splits in the field through their middle two legs, and were in last place with just 100 to go. However, with Steenbergen’s split they averaged 53.54 for their flying legs – despite splits of 54.13 and 54.85.

That kind of speed is tough to deal with, and if the Netherlands can have Sam van Nunen split 54-low after she was 54.85, something she is capable of with a 54.41 PB, they will creep closer to the European and Dutch record – even without having four stars, as that relay did in Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk, and Marlene Veldhuis.

Meg Harris And Kate Douglass Outshine Their Co-Stars

Neither one of Meg Harris or Kate Douglass swam the 100 individually in Singapore, with Douglass finishing 4th at U.S. Nationals and Meg Harris not taking up her spot in the event to focus on the 50 free, although she has said that she will focus on the 100 going forward.

Those two took over the race on the second leg, locked in an enthralling battle that left the field behind. Not only that, but they outsplit every one of their teammates with their 51-high swims, including Molly O’Callaghan, Simone Manuel, and Torri Huske.

With everyone else from Australia and the U.S. clustered in the 52-high/53-low range, it was left to these two to provide the fireworks. Both won an individual title here, Douglass in the 200 breast and Harris in the 50 free, and will lock horns again next year at the Pan Pacific Games. They could very well still be the key legs for their respective nations there.

Takeovers Key For The Dutch

A third Dutch-related takeaway, and one that directly related to their bronze medal, was how good their takeovers were. They had the second-fastest average of any team in the final, just behind France.

Great Britain’s men beat out Italy for silver at the 2021 European Championships with the difference between their takeovers being more than the final time difference between the teams. It doesn’t happen too often where the takeovers are definitively the difference, but it was the case here.

In this relay, the Dutch add-up was just 0.60 seconds, whereas China’s was almost double at 1.13 seconds. With only 0.28 seconds separating the two at the touch, the changeovers truly were the difference between making and missing the podium. 

They were not the only ones. France (0.56) touched just 0.07 seconds ahead of NAB (0.88), as both set national records. Every hundredth counts at this level.

Leading Off Or Anchoring? Where’s Best To Put Your Top Swimmer

We saw a bit of a split in the final between these two options. Australia put Mollie O’Callaghan, their top 100 freestyler, on the leadoff leg although it was Meg Harris who was strongest overall on the relay going second. Hungary and Italy joined them in putting their top swimmer first, but the U.S., Netherlands, China and NAB put them on the anchor leg.

France is a bit of a strange case, with it tough to say which of Marie Wattel and Beryl Gastaldello is their top 100 freestyler. Gastaldello led off with Wattel anchoring, and the two had roughly equivalent splits. 

The choice that teams make however may have nothing to do with their top swimmer, but rather their second-best. Most of those which led off with their best swimmer lacked something that the others didn’t – a clear #2 swimmer

Simone Manuel for the U.S., Daria Trofimova for NAB and Milou van Wijk are all quality 100 freestylers, who were trusted to take the leadoff duties. For Italy and Hungary, Sara Curtis and Lilla Minna Abraham were Batman without an obvious Robin, and as such took the first rather than last leg.

The leadoff leg is a brutal assignment, and not losing the race is often preferable to trying to win it when making lineup decisions.

China Showcase Some Options But Lose A Lot Of Speed From 2024

China was nearly four seconds slower here than in the Paris Olympic Final. They turned over half of the Asian Record-setting team from last year, losing 52.4 leadoff Yang Junxuan and replacing Zhang Yufei with Yu Yiting. 

Yu and Liu Yaxin and were 53-high, and are future options for the heats on this relay, but with both having specialties elsewhere – Yu in IM and fly, Liu in mid-distance free and back – they are not the swimmers China will want to be using on the finals team of this relay.

It wasn’t just in losing swimmers that this team added time. Wu Qingfeng and Cheng Yujie were both noticeably slower on this relay, with Wu adding six-tenths to her anchor leg and Cheng seven-tenths slower, although she did move from the second leg to lead off.

Their time from last summer would have won the race this year, and they would have hoped to put up a more competitive time than 3:34.17, especially considering they were 3:34.31 in prelims last summer. While their prelims options have expanded, this would not have been the result they were hoping for in the final.

Australia Closing Strong While The U.S. Struggle To Hold On?

You might have seen this one under the Day 1 relay analysis, but we’ve included it here in case you didn’t.

Australia won the 4×100 free relay on Day 1 thanks to Wunsch’s final 50, where she blasted away from Torri Huske as the American faded, but it wasn’t just on the anchor that we saw a difference in tactics. On three of the four legs, the Australian swimmer closed significantly faster on the second 50 than their American counterpart, and the only one to close faster, Kate Douglass, was just 0.04 seconds quicker on the back half.

This is not a phenomenon localized to this year either. Over the last five years, the U.S. have only outsplit their corresponding Australian leg on the second 50 on three occasions, and never more than once in a single relay.

This year, the total difference between the second half of the four legs was 1.75 seconds, dwarfing the eventual 0.44 second gap between the two. There does seem to be a big difference between how the two countries approach this relay, with the Australian approach having delivered gold in each of the last five years.