Britain, Greece, Sweden Lock in Olympic Qualifications in Men’s 400 Free Relay

2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 11th – February 18th
• Doha, Qatar
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The British men achieved objective #1 of the 2024 World Championships, swimming 3:13.96 in prelims of the 400 free relay to secure their place at the Olympic Games.

The Brits, who finished 4th at the 2022 World Championships, were disqualified in the heats of last year’s World Championships when Jacob Whittle jumped .04 seconds early. That left them with no qualifying time heading into 2024.

A reluctant British team – with some flying in just for this race – did their job on Saturday morning to qualify 3rd for the final, even if the effort wasn’t totally convincing. Jacob Whittle was 48.82 on the leadoff leg, Dean was 49.13 on the 2nd leg, Scott was a 48.25, and Richards carried the load with a 47.76 anchor.

Most importantly, they had pretty safe starts:

1. Dean +.52
2. Scott +.29
3. Richards +.23

The team is entered for finals, and with qualification secured they now have the chance to go-for-broke in finals. It will be tough to catch the Americans, who got really uplifting splits from non-sprinters Luke Hobson (47.70) and Carson Foster (47.83), but on paper it can be done.

Relay Selection Procedure (In Brief)

The top 3 finishing relays from the 2023 World Championships automatically qualified. The next 13 slots come from the best times among the combination of heats and finals at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships.

Because all of the finalists for 2024 Worlds are in the top 16 relay, the finals tonight won’t impact selections (though it may impact seedings). That means the field is set, pending countries declining their selections.

Their is no host country automatic allocation for the Olympics, though France is qualified. Unlike in past years, there is no “free-for-all” best times in the qualifying period to worry about, so the atmosphere should be set at this point.

Other countries that pushed their way into the field include Sweden, which swam 3:15.37 to bump ahead of Poland after swimming a 3:16.07 for 16th place at last year’s Worlds. They were led by Bjorn Seeliger, who split 47.97. He’s here competing on a break from his collegiate season at Cal, the defending NCAA Champions, but at least the trip was made worth it with the qualification.

The only other change to qualifying was Greece. With Kristian Gkolomeev splitting 47.86, the relay of Apostolos Christou (48.92), Stergios Bilas (48.81), and Andreas Vazaios (48.74) swam 3:14.33.

Their 3:15.86 from Worlds last year, where every leg was slower, would not have qualified.

The big miss was South Korea, which again gambled by not using Hwang Sun-woo in prelims. They swam 3:17.11 on Sunday, 12th in prelims, which was slower than their 3:16.15 from 2023 Worlds, where they also didn’t use Hwang in the heats.

If they had used Hwang, who has a flat-start best of 47.56, in the heats last year, they probably would have qualified. This year, he might not have made the difference. In any case, this should allow them to focus on the 800 free relay anyway, where they’re real medal contenders.

The women’s field still has some settling to do after finals. Slovenia, in the final, is not yet qualified for Paris, so if they drop time and go under 3:41.67, they could be in. They swam 3:42.11 in prelims.

Olympic Qualifications – Men’s 400 Free Relay