Day 4 Relay Analysis: McKeon Records Fastest 50 Free Split In History At 22.62

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Two more relay world records were broken on Night 4 of the Short Course World Championships, as the French team took down the mark in the mixed 200 free and the Americans crushed the all-time record in the men’s 800 free.

In addition to the new world records, the relays also produced the fastest women’s 50 free split of all-time from Australia’s Emma McKeon, and some of the quickest legs ever for the men’s 200 freestyle.

Let’s dive into the splits:

MIXED 200 FREE RELAY

Men’s Lead-off Splits

Swimmer Country Split
Michael Andrew USA 20.81
Maxime Grousset FRA 20.92
Kyle Chalmers AUS 20.97
Kenzo Simons NED 21.14
Kosuke Matsui JPN 21.24
Pan Zhanle CHN 21.49
Carter Swift NZL 21.52
Lucas Peixoto BRA 21.85

Michael Andrew had his best swim of the meet thus far leading off the U.S. relay, recording an unofficial best time of 20.81 to inch out France’s Maxime Grousset and Australia’s Kyle Chalmers.

Andrew notably scratched out of the 50 free semis after qualifying eighth overall out of the heats in a time of 21.02, as he had the final of the 100 IM just minutes later.

20.81 would’ve ranked Andrew third in the 50 free semis, while Chalmers ended up going slightly faster than he did here (20.91), and Grousset was slightly slower (20.97).

Men’s Flying Splits

Swimmer Country Split
Florent Manaudou FRA 20.26
Thom de Boer NED 20.61
Matt Temple AUS 20.71
Cameron Gray NZL 20.75
Masahiro Kawane JPN 20.81
David Curtiss USA 20.89
Wang Haoyu CHN 20.89
Pedro Spajari BRA 21.17

Florent Manaudou vaulted France into a lead that they would not relinquish with a blistering 20.26 split, matching his flat start best time that previously stood as the world record.

Manaudou had a .15 reaction off the blocks, and in the 50 free semis, where he finished seventh in 20.95, his RT was .65. Therefore, his ‘through the water’ time was 20.11 in the relay, compared to 20.30 individually, so he’s capable of getting into 20.7 territory in the 50 free final if everything fires.

Thom de Boer, who split 20.56 in the men’s 200 free relay prelims, was second-fastest at 20.61. de Boer had an ‘off’ swim and missed the semi-finals in the individual event, placing 21st in 21.35.

Women’s Flying Splits

Swimmer Country Split
Emma McKeon AUS 22.62
Beryl Gastaldello FRA 23.00
Melanie Henique FRA 23.15
Maaike de Waard NED 23.35
Marrit Steenbergen NED 23.43
Erika Brown USA 23.53
Meg Harris AUS 23.73
Liu Shuhan CHN 23.82
Alex Walsh USA 23.95
Wang Yichun CHN 23.98
Ai Soma JPN 23.98
Emma Godwin NZL 24.01
Chihiro Igarashi JPN 24.02
Rebecca Moynihan NZL 24.10
Giovanna Tomanik Diamante BRA 24.32
Stephanie Balduccini BRA 24.83

Emma McKeon‘s scintillating 22.62 split for Australia (.10 reaction) is the fastest women’s 50 free leg in history, overtaking Ranomi Kromowidjojo‘s pair of 22.70s from 2009 and 2010.

McKeon had previously split 22.73 on the women’s 200 free relay, which made her the second-fastest swimmer of all-time.

Beryl Gastaldello came through for France with a massive 23-flat, further extending their lead over the field, and then Melanie Henique shut the door with a 23.15 as they finished in 1:27.33 to break the world record of 1:27.89 set by the Americans in 2018.

Maaike de Waard (23.35) and Marrit Steenbergen (23.43) were clutch for the Dutch, as de Waard was faster than she was on the 200 free relay and Steenbergen got the call-up after she wasn’t on the women’s 200 free relay lineup in finals. That propelled the Netherlands into bronze, while the Americans took fourth.

Erika Brown was more than two-tenths quicker than she was in the 200 free relay for the U.S. in 23.53, while medley specialist Alex Walsh, who earned her finals spot after splitting 23.73 in the heats, was two-tenths off of that in 23.95.

MEN’S 800 FREE RELAY

Lead-off Splits

Swimmer Country Split
Hwang Sunwoo KOR 1:40.99
Kieran Smith USA 1:41.04
Thomas Neill AUS 1:41.50
Matteo Ciampi ITA 1:42.68
Luis Dominguez ESP 1:43.02
Temma Watanabe JPN 1:43.78
Finlay Knox CAN 1:43.96
Petar Petrov Mitsin BUL 1:44.31

The big guns were firing on the opening leg of the men’s 800 free relay, as Hwang Sunwoo set a new South Korean Record of 1:40.99 and Kieran Smith set a new personal best time by over seven-tenths in 1:41.04 for the Americans.

Australia’s Thomas Neill wasn’t far behind in 1:41.50, as it’s clear all three will be major players in the individual 200 free on Sunday.

Flying Splits

Swimmer Country Split
Kyle Chalmers AUS 1:40.35
Carson Foster USA 1:40.48
Katsuhiro Matsumoto JPN 1:40.66
Drew Kibler USA 1:41.16
Trenton Julian USA 1:41.44
Flynn Southam AUS 1:41.50
Paolo Conte Bonin ITA 1:41.58
Kim Woomin KOR 1:42.03
Javier Acevedo CAN 1:42.23
Thomas Ceccon ITA 1:42.61
Mario Molla Yanes ESP 1:42.69
Alberto Razzetti ITA 1:42.76
Lee Hojoon KOR 1:42.92
Sergio de Clis Montalban ESP 1:43.12
Hidenari Mano JPN 1:43.18
Mack Horton AUS 1:43.19
Yang Jaehoon KOR 1:43.73
Kalyoan Bratanov BUL 1:43.93
Hugo Gonzalez ESP 1:44.30
Ruslan Gaziev CAN 1:44.32
Shuya Matsumoto JPN 1:44.42
Antani Ivanov BUL 1:44.45
Ilya Kharun CAN 1:45.51
Yordan Yanchev BUL 1:46.43

Kyle Chalmers led a trio of men who split 1:40-point with a takeover, as the Australian was 1:40.35 which appears to be the fastest relay leg in history. However, four men have been faster from a flat start.

The previous fastest split on record is the 1:40.48 Ryan Lochte dropped in 2012.

Carson Foster matched that Lochte split for the Americans, swimming head-to-head with Chalmers on the second leg, and Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto (also swimming second) was 1:40.66 for Japan.

Foster won’t be competing, but Hwang, Smith, Neill, Chalmers and Matsumoto will all be gold medal challengers in the individual 200 free, as will the likes of Matt Sates and David Popovici.

Another factor will be Drew Kibler, who followed Trenton Julian (1:41.44) to anchor the Americans home in 1:41.16, as the quartet finished in a time of 6:44.12 to demolish the world record of 6:46.81 set in 2018 by Brazil.

With Flynn Southam chipping in a 1:41.5 (with a .06 reaction), Australia also went under the old record in 6:46.54.

The Italians had Alberto RazzettiThomas Ceccon and Paolo Conte Bonin all swim a little bit out of their comfort zone event-wise to edge out South Korea for bronze.

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Ghost
1 year ago

Making her name, too late in the game. Call me a poet and a McKeon skeptic.

Sub13
Reply to  Ghost
1 year ago

I suppose you have the same skepticism around Fink who achieved nothing his entire career until he suddenly started swimming world class times in his late 20s?

Emma has been top 10 in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly for the majority of the last decade.

Fink won his first ever international medal last year at age 28.

Last edited 1 year ago by Sub13
Thos
Reply to  Sub13
1 year ago

Huh? McKeon and Fink as parallel situations? Really? The best you can do?

Joel
Reply to  Ghost
1 year ago

Troll

Anonymous
1 year ago

Team USA didn’t bring enough sprinters to cover the relays. MA swam a lead off leg 20.81 followed by 51.4 100 IM which equaled his semifinal swim. It is a great double swim.

Tas
1 year ago

USA coaches left MA off the 4×50 men’s relay I think of that as an insult to him. I guess he is not swimming fast enough for them. On the flip side Dressel disappears and there is a void at the top in USA sprinting and MA is too busy enjoying life to try to fill the void.

I vote we call the state dept and get citizenship offers to Bjorn and Crooks maybe one of them would be interested.

Andrew
Reply to  Tas
1 year ago

Inexplicable relay decisions sometimes happen. Zapple on 4×200 in Tokyo and David Curtiss left out of NC State’s 2 free relay despite anchoring the 2 medley are two examples that come to mind.

Anonymous
Reply to  Tas
1 year ago

It is an insult. MA has been a very consistent 50 free swimmer.

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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