2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
- Meet site
- Competition Schedule
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Entry Lists
- Results
In an absolutely incredible finale to the men’s program here in Gwangju, Duncan Scott threw down the second-fastest freestyle split in history to come from behind and lead the British men to gold and a new European Record in the 400 medley relay.
Sitting third and trailing the Americans by over a second at the final exchange, Scott gained two-tenths on Nathan Adrian with an opening 50 of 21.82, and then came back in a tantalizing 24.32 to claim the win in a time of 3:28.10.
His final split: 46.14.
Only Jason Lezak has been faster when he had the epic comeback over France in the 400 free relay at the 2008 Olympics in 46.06.
It is also the fastest textile split by almost a half a second, moving past Cameron McEvoy‘s 46.60 from 2015. Kyle Chalmers actually tied McEvoy’s split on the anchor of Australia’s relay.
ALL-TIME 100 FREE RELAY SPLITS
- Jason Lezak (USA), 46.06 – 2008
- Duncan Scott (GBR), 46.14 – 2019
- Cesar Cielo (BRA), 46.22 – 2009
- Alain Bernard (FRA), 46.26 – 2009
- Alain Bernard (FRA), 46.46 – 2009
- Cameron McEvoy (AUS) / Kyle Chalmers, 46.60 – 2015/2019
- –
- Fred Bousquet (FRA) / Fred Bousquet (FRA), 46.63 – 2008
- –
- Eamon Sullivan (AUS), 46.65 – 2008
Scott’s previous fastest split was 47.04 from the 2017 World Championships. He notably scratched out of the 100 freestyle here in favor of the 200 IM.
Joining him on the relay was Luke Greenbank, Adam Peaty and James Guy. Peaty’s breast split of 57.20 was the fastest in the field by almost a second and is the fourth-fastest in history. He now owns the 10 fastest ever.
Their final time breaks the 10-year-old super-suited European Record of 3:28.58 set by the Germans back at the 2009 Championships in Rome. That team was comprised of Helge Meeuw, Hendrik Feldwehr, Benjamin Starke and Paul Biedermann.
SPLIT COMPARISON
Compared to Germany’s swim, they were 1.68 off the pace on backstroke but Peaty’s leg brought it down to just under four-tenths. Guy out split Starke by a tenth, and then Scott was a full three-quarters of a second quicker than Biedermann.
| Germany, 2009 Worlds | Great Britain, 2019 Worlds |
| Meeuw – 52.27 | Greenbank – 53.95 |
| Feldwehr – 58.51 | Peaty – 57.20 |
| Starke – 50.91 | Guy – 50.81 |
| Biedermann – 46.89 | Scott – 46.14 |
| 3:28.58 | 3:28.10 |
It also lowers their previous British Record of 3:28.95 from the 2017 Worlds in Budapest. Compared to that, the biggest difference came from Scott, out splitting himself by nine-tenths of a second.
| Great Britain, 2017 Worlds | Great Britain, 2019 Worlds |
| Walker-Hebborn – 54.20 | Greenbank – 53.95 |
| Peaty – 56.91 | Peaty – 57.20 |
| Guy – 50.80 | Guy – 50.81 |
| Scott – 47.04 | Scott – 46.14 |
| 3:28.95 | 3:28.10 |
For the Americans, Adrian ended up splitting 47.60 as they won silver in 3:28.45. Diving in with a deficit of 1.11 seconds, Scott was almost twice as far back as Lezak was when he chased down Alain Bernard in Beijing (0.59 seconds). He also ended up winning by a much larger margin (0.35 to 0.08).
This is the second time the U.S. men have lost this relay without a disqualification. They took silver to Australia in Perth back in 1998, and then were DQed in 2001, 2007 and 2013. Great Britain’s previous best finish was silver from 2017.
This can basically be said about any number of British swimmers, but if Greenbank gets his underwater up the the level of the field he cuts that lead in half no problem. His start was pretty abysmal. Not sure how you change the technique coaching of an entire nation though.
I think it is legitimate to perhaps question the way GB coaches their backstrokers. Maybe they should try to poach someone from the USA to get their techniques implemented.
What is ridiculous is he barely cracked 48 in the 400 free relay the first night. Where the heck did he find so much time to drop over the course of a week?!!
Him and Penny must have went soul searching or something
Each swimmer on the British squad did what they needed to do. Greenbank used his endurance in the backstroke to get back in the mix at the end of his leg; Peaty made up the distance and moved them to the front; Guy held the relay’s place in the fly; Scott maintained the distance from the USA in the first 50 of the free and used his endurance to bring it home. He has the unique ability to go out with speed off of a relay start and have some energy “left in the tank” to close, making him a deadly anchor swimmer. After all, his lead-off time in the 4×200 would have won the 200 individual event (1:44.91). The… Read more »
Told you he should have raced the 100…
Between this and his 4×200 leadoff, seems like the focus should be on the 100 and 200 next year.
I think 200 free is his best shot for gold, but he has to ask himself whether he sees better chances in the 200 IM or 100 free. I don’t think he can do all 3.
Just got home from morning practice. What’s happening over there
Not going to say someone is the favorite based on a relay split.
Scott now the clear favorite for the100 free/200 free golds in Tokyo.
lol @ the idea of there being a clear favorite in the 100/200 free.
I don’t think anyone cost the US the win. It’s rare that everybody swims a perfect race on a relay – Look at Peaty’s split for example, way down on his best. No team got their perfect swim. Britain just had an anchor leg for the ages. Well done boys!
Wake up. Nathan should have never been in that relay. If i were zapple i would be upset…. what was Nathan doing there???
What’s his best flat start time? Anyways, don’t think we can call someone a favorite based on a relay split.
Sure, especially considering that he just won bronze in the 200 free (only because Rapsys was disqualified) and didn’t compete in the 100 free …
Lol no he isn’t. The guy barely breaks 48 from a flat start. He drafted his way to this split just like Lezak did in Beijing, like Fratus did with his 46xx in 2017, like Chalmers did in this race and the individual 100, and like PVDH did back in 2004. Anytime you see a split under 47.0 from someone not named Dressel or Adrian chances are they drafted
Why can Adrian split under 47 but not Chalmers, who clearly is a better 100 freestyler right now?