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
WOMEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – FINAL
- World Record: United States – 3:50.40 (2019)
- Championship Record: United States – 3:50.40 (2019)
- World Junior Record: Canada – 3:58.38 (2017)
- 2022 Winning Time: United States – 3:53.78
Top 8:
- USA – 3:52.08
- Australia – 3:53.37
- Canada – 3:54.12
- China – 3:54.57
- Sweden – 3:56.32
- Japan – 3:58.02
- Netherlands – 3:58.09
- France – 3:59.25
Perhaps we should have used more of a philosophical approach in predicting the USA roster and not use divination or dartboards. Occam’s Razor (generalized) states that one should utilize the simplest solution to the problem instead of a more complex one.
And that is what Carol Capitani and the USA Staff did. They went with the swimmers with the fastest 100 times in the meet (with the exception of Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh).
Despite some of the worrying about this relay (and not just the roster but the possibility of winning), the US women put together a very good relay, winning their 4th medley relay in a row at a World Championships. Their time of 3:52.08 was 1.7 seconds faster than the time the USA won gold in Budapest last summer. This time ranks as the sixth fastest of all time, jumping ahead of the super-suited 3:52.19 the Chinese women swam to a world record in 2009.
Backstroke Splits (Flat Start)
- Regan Smith (USA) – 57.68
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 57.91
- Kylie Masse (CAN) – 58.74
- Wan Letian (CHN) – 59.49
- Pauline Mahieu (FRA) -1:00.12
- Kira Toussaint (NED) – 1:00.34
- Rio Shirai (JPN) – 1:00.96
- Michelle Coleman (SWE) – 1:01.08
Regan Smith capped off a successful meet with a strong swim here. While maybe not the exact results she was looking for, Smith will walk away from Fukuoka with five medals (the most she has ever collected is two, at both the 2019 and 2022 Worlds).
Her time of 57.68 is the fastest of the week; her time in the silver-medal winning 100 back was 57.78. Kylie Masse, too, posted her fastest time of the week, getting under 59 for the first time.
Kaylee McKeown was a little slower than the 57.53 she swam to win gold in the individual 100, but even if she had swum close to or faster than that time, with the split Lilly King threw down in the breaststroke, it would not have made a difference.
Breaststroke Splits (Rolling Start)
- Lilly King (USA) – 1:04.93 (1)
- Satomi Suzuki (JPN) – 1:05.73 (5)
- Tang Qianting (CHN) – 1:06.13 (4)
- Sophie Angus (CAN) – 1:06.21 (2)
- Sophie Hansson (SWE) – 1:06.34 (8)
- Charlotte Bonnet (FRA) – 1:06.78 (6)
- Tes Schouten (NED) – 1:06.91 (7)
- Abbey Harkin (AUS) – 1:07.07 (3)
Of the swimmers on Team USA, King may have one of the largest personalities, or at least to the public eye, and if there is one thing evident, it’s that King loves to represent the USA, especially in relays.
King failed to medal in the 100 individual, finishing 4th in 1:06.02, however rebounded to nab the silver in the 50 breast. Buoyed off that placing and representing the US on a relay, King delivered a split of 1:04.93, a time that was not only .96 faster than her split in Budapest but a full second faster than all but one of her competitors.
Satomi Suzuki was the one competitor within a second of King, swimming the only other time under 1:06. Sophie Angus had another great swim for the Canadians, improving upon her already impressive 1:06.30 from the prelims.
Entering the event, the Aussie’s weakest link was the breaststroke, but Abbey Harkin had a solid showing in the individual event, swimming 1:06.86. Unfortunately, she had a disappointing swim in this final, recording the slowest split in the field.
Butterfly Splits (Rolling Start)
- Zhang Yufei (CHN) – 55.50 (3)
- Maggie MacNeil (CAN) – 55.69 (2)
- Emma McKeon (AUS) – 56.44 (4)
- Louise Hansson (SWE) – 56.82 (5)
- Gretchen Walsh (USA) – 57.06 (1)
- Ai Soma (JPN) – 57.67 (6)
- Marie Wattel (FRA) – 57.72 (7)
- Kim Busch (NED) – 58.88 (8)
The 100 fly splits fell in the same order as the individual 100 fly, with Zhang Yufei and Maggie MacNeil posting the only sub-56 splits. The largest question mark on the American Team was the fly leg, but Walsh managed to not give up too much to her competitors. While slower than Huske’s bronze medal performance of 56.61 in the individual 100 fly, Walsh was faster than the 57.58 she swam in the finals of that event.
Freestyle Splits (Rolling Start)
- Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) – 51.95 (2)
- Marrit Steenbergen (NED) – 51.96 (7)
- Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 52.08 (5)
- Kate Douglass (USA) – 52.41 (1)
- Cheng Yujie (CHN) – 53.45 (4)
- Summer McIntosh (CAN) – 53.48 (3)
- Rikako Ikee (JPN) – 53.66 (6)
- Lison Nowaczyk (FRA) – 54.62 (8)
Unsurprisingly Mollie O’Callaghan had the fastest split of all of the freestylers. Her 51.95, while slower than some of her other performances, was more than enough to pass both the Chinese and Canadian teams to finish runner-up. Despite her 51.96 split, Dutch sprinter Marrit Steenbergen could not move the Dutch up further than 7th.
Kate Douglass stayed consistent throughout the week proving her ability to post fast splits reliably. Her 52.41 was a little off the 51.79 she anchored the mixed medley in, but with the lead that Smith and King got the team out to, Douglass’s swim was more than enough.
While just the sixth fastest freestyle split, the 53.48 put up by Summer McIntosh is very impressive in its own right. Not only is it a massive improvement upon the 54.99 she swam to lead off the Canadian 4×100 free relay, but it also occurred within the same session that she set a new championship record in the 400 IM.
It will be interesting to see how many college student-athletes will take a redshirt year for the 2023-2024 NCAA Season. It certainly worked out for Simone Manuel prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Many swimswammers were happy when Kelsie Dahlia was replaced by younger swimmers but Kelsie always seemed to swim a solid time during relays.
No one expected a precipitous drop in performance from Torri Huske.
USA Swimming
Torri Huske
W 100 FL
OG/WC FInal
2021 – 55.73
2022 – 55.64
2023 – 56.61
Whatever Toussaint has been doing since she left Amsterdam for Tennessee and now Spain clearly isn’t working. Far off her best 50 time (so less speed), and fading more than usual in the 100. Perhaps time to get back to Amsterdam?
Lilly King came thru in the clutch after a subpar individual performance at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
USA Swimming
Lilly King
100 BR – 1:04.75 to 1:06.02
200 BR – 2:20.95 to 2:22.25
The times were literally in the article, why are you even posting this?
The times posted are from the individual performances in the W 100 BR and W 200 BR at the 2023 Phillips 66 National Championships in comparison to the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
I appreciated that Peacock aired the medal ceremonies long after the swimming finished. The American women audibly sang the anthem together. That race was the first one all week that had the NCAAs feel that Gretchen anticipated.
Also I liked the way Regan was signing for the Japanese fans and gave a little boy her doll from the medal ceremony, while sharing a bow with him.
The Australian team formed a bridge of hands for the Americans and other medalists to run through.
It was extremely obvious how much that bronze meant to the Canadians. I’ll have to look for the interview that was mentioned within the comments.
I don’t understand the reticence of Swedish coaches to put Louise Hansson on backstroke and move Sarah to fly. Hansson is a sub 1:00 backstroker and an SC world champion, and Sarah is the 100 fly WR holder. Coleman is capable of splitting 52 something.
I think Louise’s backstroke prowess is more evident in SC due to her amazing underwaters – like Maggie. What’s her best LC 100 BK time?
59.8 from some no stakes meet in 2022. She’s faster than Rosvall or Coleman without even concentrating on the 100 back.
59.8 but maybe she hasn’t been training backstroke lately.
I think they were shooting for the moon but it cost them a medal.
Why did they opt king and not jacoby? She earned a finals swim no? Same question for weinstein in 4×2
King had the fastest 100 breast time of any American during the meet, with her 1:05.45 from semis. Also, Jacoby split 1:07 on the prelims of this relay – not necessarily super inspiring. Especially when compared to King’s proven ability to perform well on relays, I think this decision made sense, especially given even more shakiness in re the US’ fly leg – and it definitely paid off!
Lilly King was scheduled to swim in the final of the W 50 BR while Lydia Jacoby failed to qualify for the final of the W 50 BR. Hence, Lydia Jacoby drew the short straw to swim in the heats of the women’s 4 x 100 meter medley relay.
She did medal individually but it was a good call, jacoby ended up having one of the slowest splits in the breastroke field in heats – Alex Walsh was put in the heats last year and had a faster split
This isn’t summer league no-hurt-feelings swimming. You earn your spot at the meet.
Its not really a sentiment thing for me so much as it just kind of rubs me the wrong way that weinstein earned at minimum prelims swim and they just locked her out. Does the accomplishment at Trials for team selection mean nothing? There’s not enough merit in winning the individual to credit jacoby with a finals swim? I always thought the person who ranked higher in the individual was given the finals nod. Just feels like they earned a bit more than they got. The jacoby leg i have much less gripe with but weinstein not even getting a swim is bizarre for me
King has greater urgency and situational awareness. She said in her post race interview that she knew she had to bust one. Jacoby is too much of a risk to take it out slowly, never recover, and then grin as if nothing went wrong.
You obviously missed the heats of the women’s 4 x 100 meter medley relay.
Because they wanted to win
In Fukuoka’s waters gleaming bright,
A tale of strength and speed took flight,
Where swimmers gathered, hearts alight,
To claim their place, to shine, unite.
The women, fierce in every stroke,
In relay dance, their spirits woke,
A symphony of water’s grace,
They left a mark that time won’t erase.
USA, they led the charge,
With Lilly King, a breaststroke barge,
Her split, a dazzling, swift refrain,
A 1:04.93, they did sustain.
Regan Smith, with backstroke flair,
Raced the waves with skill and care,
A 57.68, her time to beat,
A champion in every feat.
Then butterfly’s Zhang Yufei flew,
A 55.50, a brilliant hue,
Maggie… Read more »
Am I the only one who sees “Zippo” and keeps scrolling?
When did Walsh anchor?