The Australian women’s 400 medley relay has broken the Australian All-Comers Record in the 400 medley relay on the final day of the 2014 Pan Pac Championships, swimming a 3:55.49 in the timed final event.
That broke the old record of 3:55.74 done back in 2007, with the only holdover from that relay being Emily Seebohm, who 7 years later still isn’t all that old, even in swimming terms.
| Old Aussie All-Comers | New Aussie All-Comers |
| Emily Seebohm -1:00.79 | Emily Seebohm – 59.44 |
| Leisel Jones – 1:04.94 | Lorna Tonks – 1:07.44 |
| Jessicah Schipper – 57.18 | Alicia Coutts – 56.76 |
| Libby Lenton – 52.83 | Cate Campbell – 51.85 |
| 3:55.49 | 3:55.74 |
The comparison from old to new here is especially interesting just given the quality of name and talent on that old record-setting relay. Jones’ sub-1:05 breaststroke at the time was one-of-a-kind, as a year earlier she had just become the first under 1:06 on a flat-start in the race. China won bronze that year with a breaststroker swimming 1:09, which would never happen anymore on a World Championship level.
Tonks swam a solid 1:07.44 on Sunday, but the other three legs were left digging in and trying to make up that ground on the record. Campbell’s 51.85 relay anchor on a .47 reaction time is one of the fastest through-the-water splits that we’ve ever seen in the women’s sprint freestyles, and that broke this one open for Australia.
It’s not that it was a big surprise that Australia won this meet; rather it was a big surprise that they won by almost two seconds. Having Seebohm and Campbell as bookends is an ace-in-the-hole that very few countries can match. Watching them race against a healthier United States team, along with maybe the Danish squad, at Worlds next year will be one of the highlight events.
I think the US Team would like a re-match with a pain-free Missy Franklin who swam amazingly fast given the fact that she spotted Seebohm at least 3/4 body length between her obvious difficulties on start/turn! That seemed to snowball, because despite the fact they swam well Hardy and Stewart didn’t get that, “Wow, we’re going to win”, adrenaline boost; they were just struggling to catch up. If they could have handed Simone the kind of lead she needed….. Well, hopefully we’ll see next summer!
By the way, you put the old/new recrd times in the wrong columns! 😉