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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- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap
Australia, one of two world swimming superpowers, missed the final of the mixed 200 medley relay on Wednesday morning at the World Short Course Swimming Championships. That caused a shock among television commenters and home-nation spectators in Melbourne, where the expectation is that Australia is good enough to at least final, if not contend for medals, in every relay, every time.
And while Australia likely had a medal-candidate mixed medley relay on their roster this year, they didn’t have a deep enough bench to use their “B” lineup and still qualify into the top 8.
The relay exchanges were pretty good – all around two-tenths of a second. The table below presumes about a four-tenths improvement over flat start for relay splits on the theoretical finals relays.
Australian relay potential, mixed 200 medley relay:
Australia’s Actual Prelims Relay | Australia’s Theoretical Finals Relay | |
Back | Bradley Woodward – 23.87 (M) | Kaylee McKeown – 26.32 (F) |
Breast | Grayson Bell – 26.17 (M) | Sam Williamson – 25.82 (M) |
Fly | Alexandria Perkins – 25.51 (F) | Emma McKeon – 24.54 (F) |
Free | Meg Harris – 23.86 (F) | Kyle Chalmers – 20.28 (M) |
Total Time | 1:39.41 | 1:36.96 |
Australia ultimately missed the final by four-tenths of a second behind 8th-place Canada and 7th-place China. What makes that really really hurt is that they left their best male sprint backstroker at the meet, Isaac Cooper, off the prelims relay. Cooper’s best time is 23.31 in the 50 backstroke, which if matched, would have put Australia through to the final. Cooper is only 18 and is on an upward trajectory in his career generally, aside from being sent home from the Commonwealth Games for misusing prescription medicine.
That would have left Australia with a finals relay that includes three of their biggest stars, who are all swimming very well so far at the meet, in front of a home crowd. A 1:36.96 would’ve placed 2nd at last year’s championships behind the Dutch, a relay that isn’t nearly as good this year.
It sounds like a perfect scenario for Australia to go after the prelims relay and chase a medal in the evening, but history shows us that this miss isn’t really a surprise.
Australia has only made the final in this event once in the six occasions when it has been offered at the World Short Course Swimming Championships. That came in 2018, where they did use their stars in prelims to qualify 3rd. Mitch Larkin, Grayson Bell, Holly Barratt, and Emily Seebohm swam 1:38.71 in prelims and then 1:38.69 in finals, sliding to 7th place.
They didn’t swim the race in the other four years it was offered, generally eschewing the event as a novelty but not a serious race worthy of focus.
But it’s unclear if that was the case this year – or if it should have been – with the pressure of a home audience to win as many medals as possible (remember that Swimming Australia is funded with taxpayer dollars). We don’t know what their finals lineup would have been and if it would have been the “best” lineup as listed above.
But what we do know is that the wrong lineup in prelims probably cost them a medal. We’ve seen it before – notably at the 2015 World Championships where both the US and Australia missed the final, and Australia missed automatic relay qualification – and it’s not the end of the world. But it is going to be a thing that people remember from this meet, and that’s too bad, because the team is, overall, swimming very well.
I missed a good prelims. WOW!
Australia, one of two world swimming superpowers. LOL
Where would Swimswam be without such incisive commentary as the above? And I would like to personally thank the commenter for posting the exact same comments thrice just in case any of us missed the first two.
Australia, one of two world swimming superpowers. LOL
You think there’s only one or that there’s more than two?
You obviously feel very strongly to have left the same comment three times…
Yes
Well Hungary has 28 Olympic Golds to Australia’s 69. Japan has 24 to the Aussies 69. The US has 257. So a bit insulting to not include those great countries.
Only two countries have more than 100 Olympic medals in swimming.
Australia has 212. The USA has 579. The #3 country, East Germany, doesn’t exist anymore.
Medals won in Tokyo: US 30, Australia 21, Great Britain 8. The US and Australia combined to win almost half of the medals.
Just because there are other great swimming countries doesn’t mean that they are superpowers. The US and Australia expect to contend for medals in almost every event at almost every Olympic Games. There are not other countries that can claim that.
France has a lot of military might, but they are not a global superpower. Saying a country isn’t a swimming superpower isn’t the same as saying “that country sucks at… Read more »
I mean if we’re going to go there than having less than half the medals wouldn’t put you near superpower…
There IS one only swimming superpower …. and that is USA. And even a superpower cannot always cover off every event perfectly.
AUS has only ever, periodically, been any real rival to the USA and even then this has mostly been through the aid of a wide view lens. Outside the late 50s- 60s and off/on since 2000, AUS has really only been a strong second level team; always producing some top level talent but rarely strength in depth across one gender let alone both.
In all honesty, its probably been relays that have given any substance to such claims and its only been since the 90s that AUS has actually given relays any consistent emphasis with real “buy-in”… Read more »
Fair points all around! Calling the USA men a second division outfit will likely have the Aussies Olympic medal output in 2024 look paltry to them – as they always do.
I’ll leave that to you to hit the US men with that label !! LOL
It does however fit the AUS men who I’d rate behind the ITA & GBR men. Where is the proven quality beyond Chalmers who carries at least one relay, ZSC (a one event man) and Winnington ? Cases may be made for 2-3 more but otherwise its not exactly stellar.
Australia, one of two world swimming superpowers. LOL
Cooper was faster in the first 50 of his 100 back heat swim than Woodward leading of this relay.
No one really values mixed relays.
Only the Aussies!
Mmmm pretty sure that was our take in America after what happened in Tokyo. Come on, be fair.
I don’t think this was a case of them not valuing the mixed relay but rather just a stu-pid f*ckup.
i think they were wanting to give Woodward, Perkins and Bell a medal to take home, to motivate them for Paris…
I love the mixed relays so much that I’m willing to stick up for them knowing it will bring downvotes. They’re so much fun to watch.
one of the tragic events – home crowd not having a home team to cheer on in the first event tonight
Tragic? A bit of a hyperbole here? No one has died.
yes thats why swimswam created a separate article on it..