Aussie Women Break National, Oceanic Records En Route To Medley Relay Silver

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
• Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
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The final women’s event of the 2022 Short Course World Championships saw the Americans take the 4x100m medley relay in World Record-setting fashion.

The United States fired off a winning time of 3:44.35 to get under their own previous WR mark of 3:44.52 set 2 years ago.

However, runners-up Australia fell only .57 out of first place, with the combination of Kaylee McKeown, Jenna Strauch, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris snagging silver in 3:44.92. The foursome collected a new Australian national and Oceanic record for their efforts.

McKeown led off in a speedy 55.74 for backstroke, with the 21-year-old Olympic champion clocking the 2nd fastest split of the field. Only Canada’s Ingrid Wilm was quicker with a 55.36 opener.

Strauch was next with a breaststroke split of 1:04.49 before the seemingly unstoppable McKeon put up a 3rd leg of 53.93. For multiple gold medalist McKeon, her split represented the only sub-54 second fly time of the entire field.

Finally, Harris topped the Aussies off with a 50.76 anchor to help the squad ultimately hit the wall in 3:44.92.

The previous Aussie and Oceanic record stood at the 3:47.91 logged in 2019 meaning tonight’s result knocked 3 seconds off of the old record.

With powerhouse athletes in the backstroke, fly and free, the Australians have been struggling to find a lethal breaststroker to seal the medley relay deal.

Although Strauch was faster than Hansen’s 1:04.73 leg on the previous Aussie national record, her breaststroke split tonight was slower than several of the other competitors.

American Lilly King, who is in a league of her own, led the field in 1:02.88; however, Canada’s Sidney Pickrem was 1:04.42, China’s Tang Qianting was 1:03.56 and France’s Charlotte Bonnet, who is typically known as a sprint freestyler, rocked a solid 1:04.12.

The Australian women will take home 3 relay gold medals from this competition, having won the 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay and 4x50m medley relay. Tonight’s 4x100m medley relay silver is paired with the 4x50m silver the Aussies earned behind the Americans.

WOMEN’S 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – FINALS

• World Record: 3:44.52 – USA, 2020
• Championship Record: 3:45.58 – USA, 2018
• 2021 Champion: 3:46.20 – Sweden

RESULTS:

1. United States – 3:44.35
2. Australia – 3:44.92
3. Canada – 3:46.22
4. Netherlands – 3:47.70
5. Sweden – 3:47.84
6. France – 3:50.28
7. China – 3:51.44
8. Japan – DQ