2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
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During Day 8 of the 2025 World Championships, Nic Fink proposed an interesting idea to SwimSwam’s livestream: Put Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass, Torri Huske, and Regan Smith’s names on a wheel and spin it. That’s how you choose the order of the medley relay. That got us thinking how competitive this relay could be no matter what stroke each swimmer would be taking on… and on paper, they look pretty strong.
Somewhat on the same topic, but this would be an insane 4x100fly relay
On the flipside…. Is the mens the least versatile? lol
I mean you got 3 of the US top 4 200 IMers and the most versatile short course women’s swimmer in history
It will be once Gretch throws down the 26 mid and 57 LC backstrokes that we know she’s sitting on.
I think it boils down to how versatile the breaststroker is, which….lol, this team got that.
But occasionally you’ll find an elite breaststroker that can swim a decent freestyle leg, but Douglass could literally give you the fastest one in the field. Plus a field-best fly split, outside of her own teammates.
The differentiating factor for this squad is every single one of them isn’t just “ok they’re pretty good” at a different stroke, but a potential individual medallist in at least one other stroke. And that’s pretty wild and seems super unlikely to have ever happened before.
BTW, speaking of these swimmers I posted a few YouTube videos from Fort Lauderdale last night, including Gretchen’s world record and the final 200+ meters of Katie’s world record. I think I called them View from the Stands. I also had Regan’s Pro Swim Series record and Casas defeating Marchand.
I was thinking about this when that lineup was introduced. How do the other countries even hope to compete? You can pretend on the first leg. But once Kate dives in it’s already over before she surfaces.
Anyway, I think the most vulnerable order is Douglass/Smith/Huske/Walsh.
Douglass doesn’t have a positive attitude toward backstroke. I value variables like that above nitpicking this performance or that performance. Douglass wouldn’t want to be on backstroke so for these purposes you put her on backstroke. She can fake the first 35 meters but she’d already be wobbly at 40 and even worse coming home. It would make the Regan Smith 15 Meter Wall look like the Utah salt flats.
Regan wouldn’t want to… Read more »
Yeah Torri/Gretchen is definitely weaker than Gretchen/Torri (Torri’s had two horrendous fly splits, and Gretchen doesn’t have a 1+ second lead on the world on free) but it still doesn’t sound that bad on paper.
It’s absolutely bonkers when you consider Torri and Gretchen are an Gold Medalist and Olympic Finalist in those two events, respectively, yet that order is still significantly slower than if you flip them.
I think the slowest might be Douglass Walsh Huske Smith
What is Regan’s 100 free PB?
The other three are the top 3 US 100 freestylers atm.
It would be cool to see them in 4×100 free relay as well
I think Sweden has done it with Sjostrom, Coleman and the Hansson sisters
It’s a 54.15 that was this year at a tune up meet where she was a second off her 100fly best time and 2 seconds off her 100 back so I bet if she was tapered she could do a 53 mid.