Huske, Harkin, and M. King Amongst Those Put On Medley Relay Heats Teams (FULL LINEUPS)

• July 23 to 30, 2023
• Fukuoka, Japan
• Marine Messe Fukuoka
• LCM (50m)
• WORLD CHAMPS WATCH PARTY – DAILY
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Entry Book
• Live Results (Omega)
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
• Day 5 Prelims Live Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap
• Day 6 Prelims Live Recap | Day 6 Finals Live Recap
• Day 7 Prelims Live Recap | Day 7 Finals Live Recap
• Day 8 Prelims Live Recap

The preliminary heat lineups for the women’s and men’s 4×100 medley relays have been posted, with many notable decisions being made. In this article, we will be breaking some of them down.

Women’s Medley Relay

The Americans, who were the pre-meet favorites, are opting to use Katharine Berkoff, Lydia Jacoby, Torri Huske, and Abbey Weitzeil on their heats squad. The decision to opt for Berkoff and Weitzeil in prelims isn’t super surprising, as they are the second-best backstroker and freestyler for Team USA respectively. However, the choice to put Jacoby and Huske on the prelims team is worth noting. Jacoby finished ahead of Lilly King in the finals of the 100 breast and also does not have any races prior to the relay during finals, while King will be in the 50 breast final. However, King’s 100 breast semi-finals time (1:05.45) was faster than Jacoby’s finals time (1:05.94), and she also outperformed Jacoby in the 50 breast that came more recently in the meet. In addition, if the experience factor is considered, King outnumbers Jacoby tremendously.

Huske, on the other hand, is America’s best 100 flyer. However, she recorded a sub-par split on the mixed medley relay (58.14) that was well off her individual 100 fly time (56.61), so there’s a possibility that she’s being put on the prelims relay so she can get a chance to redeem herself come time for finals. There’s also the chance that she’ll be replaced by 50 fly bronze medalist Gretchen Walsh in finals, but that doesn’t seem super likely as she has been doing considerably better in the 50-meter events than the 100-meter events at this meet.

With Weitzeil and Berkoff both in the prelims lineup, the chances of an “unconventional” lineup where Kate Douglass or Regan Smith swim butterfly seems unlikely.

Australia, America’s biggest challengers to gold, will be going with Madi Wilson, Abbey Harkin, Brianna Throssell, and Meg Harris on their prelims squad. Harkin is the team’s best breaststroke, but Australia doesn’t have much breaststroke depth, so it’s likely that she’ll have to be used twice. However, this prelims lineup doesn’t rule out the possibility of a finals lineup where Mollie O’Callaghan swims backstroke, Kaylee McKeown swims breaststroke, Emma McKeon swims fly, and Shayna Jack swims free (though the expected finals lineup will probably be McKeown-Harkin-McKeon-O’Callaghan).

Men’s Medley Relay

On the men’s side, the Americans will be going with Hunter Armstrong, Josh Matheny, Thomas Heilman, and Matt King. There aren’t many questions to be asked about this lineup, as it includes the second-fastest backstroker, breaststroker, and butterflyer amongst the American men. King has produced the fastest flying split out of all the American men (47.32), but considering that Jack Alexy‘s flat start time of 47.31 is faster, Alexy will likely be the man anchoring the finals relay alongside Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, and Dare Rose.

The two biggest gold medal threats aside from the United States look to be China and Italy. The Chinese are going with a lineup that includes Xu Jiayu, Yan Zibei, Sun Jiajun, and Wang Haoyu. It seems obvious that Xu will be retained for finals, while Yan and Sun will be replaced by Qin Haiyang and Wang Changhao respectively. It will be interesting to see if Wang Haoyu will get replaced by Pan Zhanle on freestyle, as Pan finished higher in the individual race but has a slower rolling split (47.37) than Wang’s 46.97)—though Pan’s came from prelims and Wang’s came from finals.

Italy, the defending World Champions, will be going with Thomas Ceccon, Nicolo Martinenghi, Piero Codia, and Manuel Frigo. Frigo likely gets replaced by Alessandro Miressi on free, while Codia should be replaced Federico Burdisso, who finished ahead of him in the individual 100 fly. Meanwhile, Ceccon and Martinenghi are expected to be retained for finals.

Notable, France will use three out of their four likely finals swimmers on their prelims relay, with Mewen Tomac swimming back, Leon Marchand swimming breast, and Maxime Grousset swimming free. Meanwhile, anchor Hadrien Salvan will likely be replaced by Florent Manadou in finals.

Full Lineups

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay:

Heat One:

• Hong Kong (Au, Haughey, Tam, Cheng)
• Greece (Drakou, Kontogeorgou, Ntountounaki, Drasidou)
• Mexico (Perez, Rodriguez, Cocco, Kovacs)
• Belgium (Vanotterdijk, Gaspard, Dumont, Verdonck)

Heat Two:

• Denamrk (Jensen, Blomsterberg, Bach, Bro)
• Korea (Lee, Kwon, Kim, Hur)
• Poland (Piskorska, Sztandera, Peda, Fiedkiewicz)
• Netherlands (Toussaint, Schouten, Busch, Steenbergen)
• Australia (Wilson, Harkin, Throssell, Harris)
• Sweden (Coleman, Hansson, Hansson, Sjostrom)
• China (Wang, Yang, Wang, Wu)
• Japan (Shirai, Aoki, Soma, Ikee)
• Hungary (DNS)
• Thailand (Boonamphai, Pawapotako, Kwanmuang, Srisaard)

Heat Three:

• Spain (Weiler Sastre, Vall Montero, Montero, Sanchez, Amezcua)
• Brazil (Goes, Conceicao, Diamante, Balduccini)
• Great Britain (Cox, Hanlon, Stephens, Hopkin)
• France (Mahieu, Bonnet, Wattel, Nowaczyk)
• United States (Berkoff, Jacoby, Huske, Weitzeil)
• Canada (Wilm, Angus, MacNeil, Harvey)
• Italy (Panziera, Carraro, Bianchi, Morini)
• Israel (Barzelay, Gorbenko, Polonsky, Golovaty)
• Germany (Riedemann, Elednt, Kohler, Schulze)
• Ireland (Hill, McSharry, Walshe, Catterson)

Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay:

Heat One:

• New Zealand (Jeffcoat, Gilbert, Clareburt, Gray)
• Mexico (Salgado, Ojeda, Iga, Cabrera)
• Ireland (Ferguson, Greene, McCusker, Ryan)
• Switzerland (Mitukov, Desplances, Ponti, Djakovic)
• Portugal (Costa, Lopes, Ribiero, Nascimento)

Heat Two:

• Sweden (Seeliger, Persson, Hoff, Hanson)
• Korea (Lee, Choi, Kim, Hwang)
• Japan (Irie, Watanabe, Mizunuma, Matsumoto)
• Germany (Braunschweig, Matzerath, Friese, Salchow)
• United States (Armstrong, Matheny, Heilman, King)
• Australia (Woodward, Williamson, Temple, Taylor)
• China (Xu, Yan, Sun, Yang)
• Canada (Acevedo, Dergousoff, Liendo, Gaziev)
• Singapore (DNS)
• Israel (Laitarovsky, Polonsky, Cohen Groumi, Frankel)

Heat Three

• Vietnam (Mai, Pham, Ho, Luong)
• Spain (Gonzalez, Coll Marti, Molla Yanes, Castro)
• Poland (Masuik, Wiekiera, Jaskiewwicz, Sieradzki)
• France (Tomac, Marchand, Grousset, Salvan)
• Italy (Ceccon, Martinenghi, Codia, Frigo)
• Great Britain (Morgan, Wilby, Guy, Dean)
• Austria (Reitshammer, Bayer, Bucher, Gigler)
• Brazil (Basseto, Gomes Junior, Mota, Chierighini)
• Greece (Siskos, Aspougalis, Vazaios, Gkolomeev)
• Thailand (Kanteemool, Kaewsriyong, Wongcharoen, Thammananthachote)