THE GUESSING IS OVER!
FINA has released the invited, and accepted, relays. Check them out here.
Updated through 5/27/2012; all of European Championships
A lot of questions have arisen recently about the Olympic relay qualifying, so we’ve taken a moment to throw together the current seeding for the Olympic Games.
The first priority is the top 12 teams from last year’s World Championships, who earn automatic Olympic bids. After that, the next four spots (for a maximum of 16 per event) come from the best four countries starting March 1, 2011, including the World Championships, and running through the June 1st, 2012 deadline. There is no other qualifying standard, but individual swims may not be aggregated for an entry time either.
We’ve done our best to go through and pick out the current relays that are in position to earn those last four spots, but there’s a chance we’ve missed someone (FINA has not published official lists). If you think there’s a country we missed, leave it in the comments. We’ve also struck-through the countries we could think of (namely, Brazil) where a country has not met its own internal standards.
Keep in mind that these lists are changing rapidly at the European Championships – as is evident from the 400 free relays, where many countries have put up qualifying-worthy times. We will update after each of the relays. There’s no official word on other countries swimming, but a few more could try to squeeze in qualifiers in the next week.
Update 5/24: Poland’s women’s 800 free relay gets bumped out; meaning that they’ll stand-pat at only 1 woman on their Olympic Team, barring a relay or two declining their bids.
Update 5/27: The end of the European Championships brings a lot more clarity to these lists – there are now only a few days left for teams still vying for Olympic spots to find FINA-approved meets at which to shoot for spots.
Update 6/1: Relay invites have begun to go out. Iceland has confirmed their women’s 400 medley received an invite.
Teams marked with “+” have confirmed their qualification to us.
Women’s 400 Free Relay
In:
USA
Netherlands
China
Germany
Australia
Canada
Japan
Denmark
Great Britain
Sweden
Russia
Belarus
On Deck:
Italy – 3:39.84 (European Championships)
New Zealand – 3:41.10 (New Zealand Nationals)*
Hungary – 3:41.36 (European Championships)
Greece – 3:42.09 (European Championships)
Brazil – 3:44.62 (Worlds/Pan Ams)
Norway – 3:44.09 (European Championships)
New Zealand – 3:44.64 (World University Games)
*Swim has not been publicly acknowledged by FINA
Women’s 800 Free Relay
In:
USA
Australia
China
Canada
Hungary
France
Great Britain
New Zealand
Japan
Germany
Russia
Sweden
On Deck:
Italy – 7:52.90 (European Championships)
Slovenia – 7:59.53 (European Championships)
Spain – 8:00.69 (Dutch Open – December)
Netherlands – 8:02.39 (Eindhoven)
Poland – 8:05.07 (Polish Trials)
Ukraine – 8:06.42 (Worlds)
Austria – 8:06.67 (Worlds)
Ireland – 8:07.66 (Worlds)
Women’s 400 Medley
In:
USA
Russia
China
Australia
Great Britain
Japan
Denmark
Sweden
Netherlands
Spain
France*
Italy *
*France and Italy bump into “automatic” status after Canada and Germany DQ’ed the finals at Worlds.
On Deck:
Germany – 3:58.43 (European Championships)
Canada – 4:00.72 (Worlds)
South Africa – 4:04.97 (Worlds)
Iceland – 4:06.64 (European Championships) +
Hungary – 4:07.19 (European Championships)
Finland – 4:08.47 (Worlds)
Men’s 400 Free Relay
In:
France
USA
Russia
Italy
Australia
Germany
South Africa
Great Britain
Brazil
Japan
Sweden
Canada
On Deck:
Belgium – 3:15.34 (European Championships)
Hungary – 3:17.23 (European Championships)
China – 3:17.56 (Worlds)
Venezuela – 3:19.18 (Worlds)
Sweden – 3:17.07 (European Championships)
Venezuela – 3:19.18 (Worlds)
Switzerland – 3:20.00 (European Championships)
Serbia – 3:21.93 (European Championships)
New Zealand – 3:22.05 (World University Games)
Men’s 800 Free Relay
In:
USA
Japan
France
Australia
Italy
China
Great Britain
Germany
Austria
Canada
Russia
South Africa
On Deck:
Hungary – 7:13.60 (European Championships
New Zealand – 7:14.05 (New Zealand Nationals)
Denmark – 7:15.38 (Danish Nationals)
Belgium – 7:15.58 (European Championships)
Poland – 7:18.43 (Polish Nationals)
Brazil – 7:18.44 (Worlds)Austria – 7:19.32 (European Championships)
Men’s 400 Medley Relay
In:
USA
Germany
Netherlands
Japan
Australia
Canada
Poland
Great Britain
France
South Africa
Italy
Russia
On Deck:
Hungary – 3:34.57 (European Championships)
Brazil – 3:34.58 (Pan Ams)
New Zealand – 3:35.09 (New Zealand Nationals)*
China – 3:36.92 (Worlds)
Israel – 3:38.04 (European Championships)Sweden – 3:38.34 (Worlds)
Greece – 3:38.53 (European Championships)
Lithuania – 3:38.57 (Worlds)
*Swim not yet publicly recognized by FINA
South Africa Women’s 4 x 100 Medley Relay won’t start in the Games.
http://www.swimmersdaily.com/2012/04/22/south-africa-selects-12-for-london-2012
It means Germany, Canada, Iceland and Hungary.
Canada is putting in a 4×200 mens relay
Serbia was 7.19.9 in the prelims of the 4×200 at Europeans 🙂
Madds Iceland did so well.Congratulations!
Hope their time locks up the spot for them to swim the relay in LONDON!!!
Any idea on how Icelands Women’s 4 x 100 Medley Relay finish in 4th with a 4.06.64 will set them up for the list????Hoping they can squeeze in…\]
Iceland is currently at the 16th in the women 4×100 MR, and unless another country not in the top 16 time trial and beat 4:06.64 in the next week, Iceland is going to London!
(and instead of the much fancied Hungary! amazing)
Hungarian men’s correct medley time is 3:34:57.
Seems like Hungary’s standing well, we almost made the perfect 6.
Even the women’s medley almost made it, but they will be good for Rio as Anna Sztankovics and Liliána Szilágyi grow up.
From Swimnews:
“Women’s 4x100m medley
Jenny Mensing (1:00.51), Sarah Poewe (1:07.44), Alexandra Wenk (57.74) and Britta Steffen (52.74), set a championship record of 3:58.43 to won the medley relay crown ahead of Italy, 4:01.92, and Sweden, 4:05.58.”
Full results from Europeans 4×100 womens medley relay.
http://omegatiming.com/swimming/racearchives/2012/Debrecen/C73B1_Results%20(One%20Heat%20-%20Relay)_139_Heat1_Women_4x100_Medley.pdf
YEAH – ISL jump up to claim a sport in front of Hungary with a 9 sec improvement of the Icelandic record. We had fun today 🙂
IT will be very exciting to watch the Us women medley relay , closing on the world record …..in London .
what about the mexican relay?
the women´s medley
The fastest mexican women’s 400 medley relay is from last october Pan Am in 4:09.41
That will not be enough to get them to London, especially after the conclusion of European Championships.