2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
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MEN’S 4X200 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINAL
- World Record: 6:58.55, United States – 2009
- World Junior Record: 7:08.37, United States – 2019
- Championship Record: 6:58.55, United States – 2009
- 2023 World Champion: Great Britain, 6:59.08
- 2024 Olympic Champion: Great Britain, 6:59.43
- Great Britain, 6:59.84
- China, 7:00.91
- Australia, 7:00.98
- United States, 7:01.24
- South Korea, 7:02.29
- France, 7:03.69
- Italy, 7:05.54
- Israel, 7:06.76
The United States men’s 4×200 freestyle relay team suffered a devastating fourth-place finish in Singapore, missing the podium for the first time at a World Championships since 1998.
Note: The Americans have medaled at every Olympics since 1996, except for the Tokyo 2020 Games, where they also finished fourth.
The Americans found themselves under a bit of pressure early on after Henry McFadden led off in 1:46.09, nearly a second off his personal best of 1:45.22 from U.S. Nationals last month. Still, his leg was enough to put the team in fourth, keeping them within striking distance.
McFadden was one of only two swimmers on the relay with prior international experience. He split 1:46.39 on the third leg of the 4×200 relay during prelims at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, before being swapped out for the final.
Gabriel Jett followed McFadden with a 1:45.88 split on the second leg, a bit off his best. He had gone 1:44.70 to place second at Nationals, showing that, at his best, he’s capable of splitting 1:44-low. Earlier in the meet, Jett turned in three 1:45s from a flat start—1:45.91 in prelims, 1:45.60 in semis, and 1:45.92 in the final, where he finished eighth. At the halfway point, the U.S. sat in sixth and had some serious ground to make up.
That’s when Luke Hobson delivered the performance of his international career. Swimming from the third position rather than his usual leadoff role, Hobson exploded for a field-leading 1:43.45 split. The time not only bettered his individual 200 free silver medal time of 1:43.84 from earlier in the meet but was the only swimmer to break their flat-start best time (1:43.73) from a relay swing.
The switch proved to pay off, even without a podium finish to showcase it. While Hobson has struggled on leadoff duties for Team USA at the last three major international meets, moving him to a relay exchange seemed to provide the change he needed.
Hobson’s heroics vaulted the Americans from sixth to second. This set up anchor Rex Maurer with a real shot at a podium finish. Maurer, who had gone 1:45.13 to place third at Nationals, couldn’t match his competitors’ closing speed and finished in 1:45.82.
Great Britain, winners of the last two Olympic titles, saw Duncan Scott blaze to victory with a scorching 1:43.82 anchor. China’s Zhang Zhanshuo (1:44.20) and Australia’s Maximillian Giuliani (1:44.92) battled for the remaining medals, with China getting the touch by just 0.07 seconds.
It’s important to note that Team USA left off Carson Foster, who has been a mainstay on this relay dating back to 2022 and has split as fast as 1:43.94. He pulled out of the 200 IM final on Thursday, and with reports of several American swimmers falling ill over the past week, he was most likely not available for the relay.
While Foster was only 5th at U.S. Nationals this year with a lifetime best of 1:45.45, his experience would have been a welcome addition on a relay that had two rookies and three swimmers competing in a World Championships relay final for the first time.
USA Men’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay at Long Course World Championships (1998-2024):
- 1998 Perth: 5th
- 2001 Fukuoka: Bronze
- 2003 Barcelona: Silver
- 2005 Montreal: Gold
- 2007 Melbourne: Gold
- 2009 Rome: Gold
- 2011 Shanghai: Gold
- 2013 Barcelona: Gold
- 2015 Kazan: Silver
- 2017 Budapest: Bronze
- 2019 Gwangju: Bronze
- 2022 Budapest: Gold
- 2023 Fukuoka: Silver
- 2024 Doha: Bronze
Same old stuff on this site about the poor old Americans. How about affording a little bit of credit to this once again unreal GB team who just keep stepping up and handing it to everyone over and over!
Lol, and you USA fans all said GB wouldnt be a threat.
The culture of USA Swimming is going to have to change things..as a whole we seem to be very concerned about ” emotional triggers ” a coach yelling, or calling out a swimmer..so at the base level, are we developing grit in our future national swimmers, or victims?..I am not talking real abuse, yet a coach can be guilty by a look..I guarantee that the world outside of USA is not concerned with hurt feelings.… Read more »
2. We are holding back swimmers by age. Yet most of our national team were top age group swimmers!!
3. It’s about the money..swim fast enough for that paycheck..
4.training camps..it seems they are very ” clicky” now..the same people hanging out.
I don’t think there’s any evidence either objective or subjective that would support this. The place where I see the US lagging is not on how “tough” we are on swimmers but rather or technical and scientific we are with training methodology. We have a very distributed training system, there’s far more top down coordination in the UK, China, Australia, etc.
One problem is that if the US wants to do better internationally then there needs to be some LCM meets and competition at least at the Division I level. Coach Bowman did at least one such meet while at ASU and this tradition is continuing there. It should be noted that Coach Bowman has more swimmers winning medals than any other coach. This is because he trains swimmers both in SCY and LCM
If the buck stops with coaches, between underperformances and stomach problems, changes are likely needed
Meehan is gone.
Keep Meehan he is top notch
Disappointed and questioning the choice of putting those 4 on in that order. Bowman please coach team USA
That won’t happen. Too much conflict of interest with Leon, Hubi, and soon Summer
Well then we’re screwed
Agreed. Carson must be sick because Maurer didn’t really earn a spot. Jett just swam poorly.
McFadden bad but not as bad as Jett and Maurer.
Hobson was great but to be fair he was the one that let them down in 23 and 24.
Dog McFadden is a stud. Leave him alone
Lebron and the 2007 Cavs ah performance