Team USA Out of World Championship Final in the Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay

2025 World Championships

In a surprise result this morning, TeamUSA failed to make it out of prelims and advance to the final of the mixed 4×100 medley relay in Singapore.

The United States relay team of Keaton Jones, Campbell McKean, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel posted a time of 3:44.50 during the heats to finish 10th overall and miss the top 8 by less than .3. Poland claimed that last qualifying slot for finals, touching in 3:44.22 to place 8th.

TeamUSA’s splits were not quite up to par with the rest of the field, as they fell off on the backstroke and butterfly legs.

Jones led off in 54.20, which put them 3rd in their heat at the 100 mark but was only the 9th-fastest backstroke split across the board. Kean turned in a 59.07 on the breaststroke, followed by Huske swimming 58.47 on the butterfly leg, which is almost three seconds slower than her lifetime best in the 100 fly (55.52). Manuel anchored the race in 52.76 to finish 4th in their heat.

The United States is normally a force to be reckoned with in the mixed 4×100 medley, holding the World Record, World Junior Record and Championship Record in this event. They were the Olympic champions in Paris last summer, with Huske swimming the freestyle leg of that race to help TeamUSA to a time of 3:37.43.

United States Split Comparison

2025 World Championships 2024 Olympic Games
Back 54.20 – Keaton Jones 52.08 – Ryan Murphy
Breast 59.07 – Campbell McKean 58.29 – Nic Fink
Fly 58.47 – Torri Huske 55.18 – Gretchen Walsh
Free 52.76 – Simone Manuel 51.88 – Torri Huske

The Americans are not the only Olympic finalists to miss the final here in Singapore, as the French and the British also fell short of the top 8. France took 4th in Paris last summer (3:40.96) but placed 9th this morning in 3:44.31, just .09 away from 8th-place. Great Britain finished 7th at the Olympic Games (3:44.31), only to touch in 12th with a 3:46.19 during prelims today.

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Mark R. Lambert
10 months ago

Unfortunate…
Shame that the two teams chosen
were an “either or, not, both!”
Please learn, and, think differently
for the FUTURE!

Kim Ping, Koh
10 months ago

Hello…… where’s our Local Stars News ?

Is this News or What ?

Rolf Hoffmann
10 months ago

I have always admired the American team positive mindset and „play to win“ attitude! But it is a fine line to being in denial or even delusional. This is not about T Huske or a GI bug, but it’s a gradual decline since the last Worlds incl Paris! If the US team still expects to lead the World in medal count and titles, there needs to be an honest assessment and creation of „shared reality“, where they stand. That includes accountability and possibly people consequences. The „go for it“ attitude loses credibility when overall mediocre and poor performances are ignored or excused.
The US team is better than that!!!

thezwimmer
10 months ago

Can we have McCarty time trial a 100 back in between sessions or is he purely a 50 swimmer?

NCSwimFan
Reply to  thezwimmer
10 months ago

McCarty went 55.2 in the 100 back in May, at the same meet he was a 24.4 in the 50 back. He’s not the solution everyone seems to think he is. Very much a pure 50 backstroker at this stage.

Cassandra
Reply to  thezwimmer
10 months ago

its fine to time trial but this is same framework that led to them testing out keaton. lets focus on building up tommy janton and getting him back to health or testing out casas.

imo destin is the only legitimate wildcard bc of his pb but even he im not super bullish on bc he was slower than keaton at trials and his free split was slower than his flat start at trials.

Bob Knows Swimming
Reply to  thezwimmer
10 months ago

Andy Ross reported he did one last night

Bignowhere
10 months ago

Hot take. It is simply hard to know if a swimmer who has been sick has sufficiently recovered. You can ask them how they feel, watch them during warm ups, have a doctor check them out, etc. but ultimately the only real test is the actual race. Obviously in hindsight Huske should have been kept off the relay, but it must have been hard to know that ahead of time.

I can think of many examples of swimmers who have competed while sick and did surprisingly well. And there are also examples that were disasters like the men’s free relay in 2004.

thezwimmer
Reply to  Bignowhere
10 months ago

Grant Hackett is an example. He was dealing with Epstein-Barr virus in 2000, swam a terrible 400 free, got pulled from the 800 relay, but still managed to win gold in the 1500 over 2x defending champion and world record-holder Kieran Perkins. Then again in ’04, he had a partially collapsed lung, but nearly upset Thorpe in the 400, swam a PB in the 200 to finish 5th in “The Race of the Century,” and won his 2nd gold in the 1500m.

For those that weren’t alive or actively watching swimming in 2004, Bignowhere is referencing the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay where Ian Crocker, who had won Olympic trials, was dealing with illness and led off in 50.05, putting the… Read more »

bigNowhere
Reply to  thezwimmer
10 months ago

Yes! I was thinking of Hackett’s awesome performances while sick when I made my comment.

There are of course, a number of other examples of sick swimmers doing well, but Hackett’s collapsed lung story is near the top of the list for me.

Kenna
Reply to  Bignowhere
10 months ago

I agree with this, especially after her 100 free performance in the relay! This is not Tori’s fault whatsoever, but if she said she was good to swim, the coaches probably trusted her. I guess the main issue issue is they should’ve put her in free instead of fly.

Here we go again
10 months ago

Keaton Jones’ time would have been 23rd in the individual m100 back 🤦🏽‍♀️

Here we go again
10 months ago

Keaton Jones… seriously???

Lawrence
10 months ago

Why they let torri huske play the match if she is not in a good condition?