Haas Anchors U.S. To Gold In 1:43.78, 3rd-Fastest Split In History

2018 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

With his back against the wall, Townley Haas produced one of the fastest relay legs of all-time to give the American men the gold in the 800 free relay at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo.

With the Australians holding a 1.4-second lead heading into the anchor leg, Haas ran down Jack Cartwright to give the U.S. the win in a time of 7:04.36, edging out the Aussies who were 7:04.70 for silver. Haas split 1:43.78, the 3rd-fastest flying start in history, to get the job done.

Cartwright (1:45.52) ended up having the 4th-fastest leg in the entire field, with Fernando Scheffer of Brazil (1:44.87) and Katsuhiro Matsumoto of Japan (1:45.31) 2nd and 3rd fastest.

Sun Yang holds the fastest split of all-time in 1:43.16, done at the 2013 World Championships when he anchored the Chinese team to a surprise bronze medal. Yannick Agnel split 1:43.24 at the 2012 Olympic Games during his peak, and James Guy‘s 1:43.80 anchor last summer was the only other sub-1:44 leg prior to Haas’ swim tonight.

Haas had previously produced a 1:44.14 leg at the 2016 Olympic Games which tied for the 5th fastest in history with Aussie great Ian Thorpe at the time. With Guy’s swim last year and now this 1:43.78, that now ranks in a tie for 8th all-time. Check out the top-10 splits of all-time below:

Fastest 4×200 Free Splits In History (No Lead-offs)

  1. Sun Yang, 1:43.16 – 2013 World Championships
  2. Yannick Agnel, 1:43.24 – 2012 Olympic Games
  3. Townley Haas, 1:43.78 – 2018 Pan Pacific Championships
  4. James Guy, 1:43.80 – 2017 World Championships
  5. Michael Phelps, 1:44.05 – 2012 Olympic Games
  6. Filippo Magnini, 1:44.12 – 2008 Olympic Games
  7. Ricky Berens, 1:44.13 – 2009 World Championships
  8. Ian Thorpe – 2001 Worlds / Townley Haas – 2016 Olympics, 1:44.14
  9. Aleksandr Sukhorukov, 1:44.15 – 2009 World Championships

Editor’s Note: There’s no definitive ranking on splits, this list is based on our research.

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DRESSEL IS GOD
6 years ago

He went out in a 49.40. Insanity

Hambone
6 years ago

Is it weird that the world-record holder, in an almost-untouchable time, isn’t on that list? I know its a super-suit time, but so are some others.

ThomasLurzFan
Reply to  Hambone
6 years ago

No not really, because Biedermann almost always was in first position for the german relay.

Tom
6 years ago

RESPECT

marklewis
6 years ago

Townley Haas has the right combination of speed and endurance for the 200 LCM free. He’s good at the 100 and the 400, but the 200 suits him perfectly.

If the USA coaches learned anything, it’s that Haas is their anchor swimmer on the 4×200 relay. He swam so fast because he had to, so the team could win.

sqimgod
Reply to  marklewis
6 years ago

yeah i love swimmers like that. like agnel or phelps who could swim all 3 but where best at the 200. or lochte who coulnt swim a 100 or 400 but could do a good 200 cuz of underwaters. 200 free is the most entertaining event in swimming in my opinion. the alltime greats always compete in there

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  sqimgod
6 years ago

Biondi has a great 200 too – Oh Boy – on that relay in 1988 , he destroyed the field !! One of the most beautiful anchor in a 800 free relay with Thorpe in 2004 !!!

Kolesnikov's necklace
Reply to  marklewis
6 years ago

I don’t call 3:53 a good 400 free.

Luigi
6 years ago

Haas was so light on the water … I have rarely seen anything similar. He was literally flying. A beautiful sight.

On a side note: watching the 4×200 free I noted that most swimmers, including some of the Americans, were using a hand-led stroke (especially on the breathing side), as opposed to a classical elbow-led stroke, seen mostly among the Australians. Is there perhaps a paradigm shift on the way freestyle is taught now in the US?

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Luigi
6 years ago

All the Aussies had beautiful elbow-led-stroke , something Thorpe had induced by his example back in the day i think . Its absolutely lovely to watch ….therefore their efficiency payed off Big time yesterday

Riding Murphy's Wake
6 years ago

I love the fact that he swims faster on the relays than his individual event. For example, Seliskar is solid 1:45’s at Nats and PanPacs, but thrown him on the relay and it’s 1:46 mid

12beatkick
6 years ago

Can’t wait for the interview

fit2swim
6 years ago

The men’s 200 free is for sure the, or one of the, most up-down event on the panel. There have been nameable people going sub-1:45 since the early 2000s, and the fact that there are no relay splits within a second of the flat-start world record is uncanny. Sometimes 1:47 is “fast” and then you have frankly short-lived stars like Agnel and (suit-assisted) Biedermann lighting it up with 1:42-1:43 (along with Phelps who is not short-lived, of course)…it seems like one of those events where it’s “revving up” to be wicked fast and make all these times look juvenile, much like the women’s 200 free— where a 1:58 won in Athens ‘04, and now a 1:58 would be 2 seconds… Read more »

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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