2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
- World Aquatics Championships Arena
- LCM (50m)
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The U.S. Men Leave Everyone In The Dust
After the mixed medley saw the fastest male first 200 in history from NAB, this relay saw the same from the U.S.. Jack Alexy and Patrick Sammon both broke 47 on the opening two legs, the first time in history that has been done, and hit halfway in a phenomenal 1:33.61.
Both of them were 0.33 seconds faster than in the same position on the men’s 4×100 free relay, and there was not a single team within a second of them at halfway. NAB, in 1:34.77, were the only ones within a second and a half.
They were also 1.68 seconds under world record pace at the 200m mark, and with Shayna Jack and Mollie O’Callaghan splitting 51.7s on that record they needed that buffer to crack the 3:18.83 that Australia put up in 2023. Kate Douglass and Torri Huske both split 52.4, but thanks to their west-coast teammates were in acres of clear water.
Hoek le Guenedal Looks Primed To Break Out For Spain
Luka Hoek le Guenedal showed out at the European Junior Championships at the start of July, going 48.25 to win the 100 free and unofficially breaking the Spanish Senior record with a 48.14 leadoff on the mixed free relay.
He ended his meet there with a 47.83 anchor on the men’s medley relay to drag them from 7th to 3rd, but a month later was in even better form. He officially broke the Spanish Record in the 100 free twice, going 48.24 and 48.04 in the 100 free, and swam 47.6 splits in both heats and finals of this relay.
That was in addition to a 47.67 in the heats of the men’s 4×100 free relay on the first day, and he looks to be a swimmer Spain can build around. Their men’s relay just missed the final in Paris in a National Record of 3:13.19, thanks to all four swimmers stepping up, but given a focal point in the 17-year-old could fly even higher.
This was their first final in the mixed free relay event, and Sergio de Celis Montalban and le Guenedal both breaking the men’s 100 free record in Singapore (Montalban leading off the men’s 4×100 free), and Carmen Weiler Sastre having a sneaky-good 53.82 split in the final, it may well not be too long before they are in another.
Curtis Could Be A Star At Virginia
Sara Curtis broke Federica Pellegrini’s longstanding Italian Record in the 100 free as she went 53.01 at Italian Trials, and has had a huge breakout this year. After being one of several Italian 54-low swimmers last summer, and not first choice for medley relay duties, she is now their undisputed star.
Curtis’s fastest split last summer came in the heats of the women’s 4×100 free, where she clocked 53.93. On this relay, she was 1.53 seconds faster in 52.40, the second-fastest female split in the field behind Marrit Steenbergen and faster than previous and current NCAA standouts Kate Douglass, Taylor Ruck, and Torri Huske.
She had five relay swims this year, two of them leadoffs, and every single one was faster than her best split in 2024. After some great swims at short course worlds as well, with several 51-point 100 free splits and 23-point 50 free splits, Curtis should have an instant impact in yards.
With Gretchen Walsh finishing up her NCAA career this year, the revolving doors at Virginia look to have brought her replacement in already.
The Difference Between A 50 Freestyler And A 100 Freestyler
On the second leg in the final we saw two men go out under 22 seconds to feet – Patrick Sammon of the U.S. and the Netherlands Renzo Tjon-A-Joe. Each is a sprint freestyler, but reasonably specialised to a single distance – the 100 for Sammon and the 50 for Tjon-A-Joe.
It was the American who was out just ahead of the Surinamese-born Dutch swimmer, 21.77 to 21.84, but the second 50 was where you could see the real difference. Sammon closed in 24.93 for a 46.70 split, top-30 all-time and at the time the third-fastest American split ever. Tjon-Joe, swimming up a distance, was 26.03 on the second 50.
The Dutch swimmer still split 47.87, a more than solid return, but the second 50 highlighted the difference between the two.
The two were not locked in a race against each other despite being in adjacent lanes, separated by a second and a half at the start of their legs, but the tactics were the same – no point dying wondering. Sammon, however, had the endurance to hang on.
China’s Depth Pieces A Slight Concern
China, the defending world champions from Doha, where they set the Asian Record of 3:21.18, but missed the final in 10th this year. They went mostly with the ‘B’ team in the morning, although Wang Haoyu is probably their second best 100 freestyler after Pan Zhanle and would have been on the finals team if they had made it.
However, he looked a long way from the form that saw him split 46.97 in 2023, or even the 47-mids he was throwing down in 2024, and was 48.10 here. Yu Yiting on the third leg was 53.72, a little off the 53.31 she swam in Doha but also her best split of the meet.
China has their National Games coming up in November, which is seen as second only to the Olympics in importance and was likely to have been a reason for a slightly muted performance by China overall in Singapore. However, with only a slightly longer gap last year between the Doha world championships and the Olympics they looked in far better form in the whole at the former than here.
Chen Juner leading off in 48.77 and Yang Wenwen anchoring in 54.53 are frankly not quite enough to be assured of making it through a cut-throat prelims anymore. For a pair of relays that were intensely competitive last year, the men’s 4×100 free finishing 4th and women’s 3rd in Paris, the two swimmers that each put forward for the heats here did not inspire too much confidence.
Australia were somewhat similar, with Kai Taylor and Max Giuliani falling a long way from the heroics of the men’s 4×100 free final. They missed out by 0.21 seconds as they were 11th, just behind China. With the world as it is now, perhaps they and China needed to use Kyle Chalmers and Pan Zhanle, respectively, to ensure a finals spot. Neither had any individual swims on Day 7, and ended up with no relay swims either.
Australia needed to use Flynn Southam and Kai Taylor in heats since Flynn didn’t have another swim anyway and he’s much faster than Giuliani flat start .. save Kyle for finals as he was dead tired by the time men’s medley relay came around 48.3 split to anchor ?
At the elite level, will we ever see a relay try a different order than MMFF?
Other men leading off in 47+ might be wondering if they have a 45.95 Alexy-type anchor in them when they’re chasing a rabbit from that far behind.
In heats we saw men anchoring this relay
The US is fine when we can be led by the MAN himself 6-7 SAMMON