U.S. Men Wrap Up Day 6 of WUGs with New Meet Record in 4×200 Free Relay

2025 World University Games

• July 17th-23rd, 2025
• Berlin, Germany
• LCM (50 Meters)
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  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

Men’s 4x200m Free Relay Final:

1. United States- 7:04.51 **NEW WUGs Record
2. Individual Neutral Athletes- 7:08.33
3. Japan- 7:09.47
4. Brazil- 7:12.01
5. Italy- 7:13.83
6. Malaysia- 7:19.66
7. Australia- 7:20.20
8. Switzerland- 7:25.78

On the sixth day of the World University Games, the United States men’s 4×200 freestyle relay broke the WUGs record, mirroring their female teammates’ achievement from day four. The American men clocked 7:04.51, surpassing Russia’s previous record of 7:05.49 set in 2013.

Adding to an already dominant showing in Berlin, the Americans added on the gold in the 4×200 free relay to the medal haul for the meet.

The team of Mitchell Schott (Princeton), Baylor Nelson (Texas), Jack Dahlgren (Missouri), and Jake Mitchell (Florida) cumulatively downed the previous WUGs record from the Russian team that stood tall since 2013.

Schott led off the relay in 1:46.06, dropping more than 1.6 seconds from his previous best of 1:47.79 heading into the meet, and slightly improving on his prelims time of 1:46.23. Schott went out fast (24.73, 26.23). At the 200, Schott had the American relay in second, four hundredths of a second off the Neutral Athlete relay.

Nikolai Kolesnikov led off the Neutral Athletes’ relay in 1:46.02, with both his and Schott’s time faster than Mitchell’s winning time (1:46.22) from the individual event. Kolesnikov was 1:46.77 in that race for silver.

Nelson took over from Schott, taking out his 200 in 51.08. After splitting 27.42 on his 3rd 50, Nelson helped the United States take over the top position from the Neutral Athlete team.

Dahlgren entered the water, coming into the evening relay having split the fastest 200 of the morning at 1:46.11. Digging deep, Dahlgren outperformed his morning swim, splitting 23.96/ 26.48/ 27.39/ 27.41 and touching in 1:45.14, giving the Americans over two and a half second buffer between themselves and the rest of the field.

Anchoring this relay would be Tokyo Olympian Jake Mitchell, opening in 50.55, growing the lead to nearly a five-second gap. His effort resulted in a gold medal finish, and his 1:46.78 split rewrote WUGs history in the event in the process.

Russia 2013 and USA 2025 Relay Comparison:

Comparing the two relays, one clear outlier for the Russian relay was Danila Izotov, who, of all eight swimmers, was the only one under 1:45. Having the fastest split of all eight of these athletes should have been enough for Russia to maintain this record, but it was the Americans who had a tighter dispersion between their times.

Between all four splits for the United States, they were separated by 1.65 seconds. For the Russian relay, on the other hand, between the fastest and slowest splits, there is a 2.63-second difference.

That .98-second difference directly corresponds with the margin in which the Americans set a new WUGs standard.