Cate Campbell Splits 51.0, Aussies Smash 400 Free Relay World Record

2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Closing out the opening day at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Australian women delighted the home crowd with a new world record in the 400 free relay. The quartet of Shayna JackBronte CampbellEmma McKeon and Cate Campbell clocked 3:30.05, winning over the Canadians by nearly four seconds. They break their previous record of 3:30.65 set at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Check out a comparison of their splits and the splits of the previous world record below:

Australia – 2016 Olympics Australia – 2018 Commonwealth Games
Emma McKeon (53.47) Shayna Jack (54.03)
Brittany Elmslie (53.12) Bronte Campbell (52.03)
Bronte Campbell (52.15) Emma McKeon (52.99)
Cate Campbell (51.97) Cate Campbell (51.00)
3:30.65 3:30.05

Obviously of note is Cate Campbell‘s anchor leg of 51.00, the fastest in history and nearly a full second faster than she was in Rio. The previous fastest ever was her 51.59 from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, based on our findings. Bronte also had a very impressive 52.03 leg, and McKeon was sub-53 as well.

The addition of Cate obviously makes a huge difference from last year, where they lost the gold to the United States, swimming almost two seconds slower than they did tonight.

The Canadians won silver in 3:33.92, with Taylor Ruck splitting a scintillating 51.82. She joins the elusive list of swimmers who have split sub-52, which includes both Cate and Bronte, along with Femke Heemskerk and Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands.

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Ervin
6 years ago

And they did it with a 54 split in there too

Winx
6 years ago

Is Penny the Bouchard of world swimming……54 sec split, damn that’s quite slow

Coach
Reply to  Winx
6 years ago

I think I read that her grandmother passed away yesterday. I am sure she is emotionally exhausted from the news.

Swimcoach
6 years ago

We need to talk about swimswams use of the words “smash” and “slaughter” in regards to records.

completelyconquered
Reply to  Swimcoach
6 years ago

Do they offend you?

Yozhik
6 years ago

Are reaction times of this relay available? The “result” link doesn’t have this information.

Liam
Reply to  Yozhik
6 years ago

Yes there are. You need to click on the link “Official reports”. Cate Campbell’s reaction time was 0.10 and Bronte Campbell’s time was 0.33 🙂
Emma McKeons was 0.4

Yozhik
Reply to  Liam
6 years ago

Tnx

GLEE
Reply to  Yozhik
6 years ago

1 4 AUS – Australia 3:30.05 WR
JACK Shayna 0.72 (2) 54.03 25.73 54.03
CAMPBELL Bronte 0.33 (1) 1:46.06 25.02 52.03
McKEON Emma 0.40 (1) 2:39.05 25.28 52.99
CAMPBELL Cate 0.10 (1) 3:30.05 23.89 51.00

2 5 CAN – Canada 3:33.92 3.87
ZEVNIK Alexia 0.75 (1) 53.95 26.19 53.95
SANCHEZ Kayla 0.35 (2) 1:47.77 25.97 53.82
OLEKSIAK Penny 0.26 (2) 2:42.10 25.79 54.33
RUCK Taylor 0.23 (2) 3:33.92

SwimGeek
Reply to  GLEE
6 years ago

Looks liike 51.82 for Ruck — wow

Liam
6 years ago

It was 0.10 and that’s pretty fast!

Yozhik
Reply to  Liam
6 years ago

Cate Campbell rarely had flat start under 0.8sec. If her reaction time in this relay was indeed 0.1 then she wasn’t faster than Sjostrom’s world record race.

S L
6 years ago

Didn’t Kromowidjojo go a 51 in Budapest ?

Admin
Reply to  S L
6 years ago

51.98 on the anchor in finals.

S L
6 years ago

51 flat. Good god…

sven
6 years ago

“She joins the elusive list of swimmers who have split sub-52, which includes both Cate and Bronte, and Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands.”

Sjostrom also went 51 on a relay… But she was leading off. Insane that there are only 4 other women who can do that even with a relay start (though hopefully we can see Manuel and/or Comerford and/or Weitzel do the same on a relay soon enough).

Hswimmer
Reply to  sven
6 years ago

Don’t think Abbey has the endurance to hang on, Mallory also doesn’t have the pure speed but she could challenge more than abbey. Simone should be able to this summer.

Caleb
Reply to  Hswimmer
6 years ago

she’s been 52.5 on a flat start so it wouldn’t take much to get under, on a relay..

Bo swims
Reply to  sven
6 years ago

by 2020 Canada pulls ahead

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Bo swims
6 years ago

dont go too fast – 2 years can make new sprint stars rise and rise High .

Ben
Reply to  Bo swims
6 years ago

Too early to tell, but that’s not impossible.

commonwombat
Reply to  Bo swims
6 years ago

Looking longer term, post Tokyo, I tend to agree that CAN WILL become USA’s prime competition in this (and other) relays as its likely the AUS team will fall away with both Campbells (and most likely McKeon) saying goodbye leaving only Jack as the only AUS sprinter of any consequence

USA
Reply to  sven
6 years ago

Kromowidjojo and Steffen have also split sub 52 before

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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