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
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Live results
Men’s 4×100 Free Relay
- World Record: 3:08.24, USA (Phelps/Weber-Gale/Jones/Lezak), 2008
- World Junior Record: 3:16.96, Australia (Blake/Leong/Jones/Horton), 2013
- World Championships Record: 3:09.21, USA (Phelps/Lochte/Grevers/Adrian), 2009
- Defending 2017 World Champion: 3:10.06, USA (Dressel/Haas/Pieroni/Adrian)
Not too long ago, the French were on a tear in this event, winning titles at the 2012 Olympics, 2013 Worlds and 2015 Worlds. But they faded to silver by six tenths at the 2016 Olympics, and didn’t contest the event at 2017 Worlds. 2018 could have offered a return to international medals, but France fell to an embarrassing 9th-place prelims finish at Euros and missed the final.
Since then, it’s been the Americans on a run of their own – though it ended in similarly ignominious fashion. The U.S. won the 2016 Olympics and 2017 Worlds, but last summer at Pan Pacs took a disqualification for a mistake high-level teams rarely make: swimming out of order. The U.S. touched first in a 3:11.67 that would have been the world’s #1 time, but the swimmers swam in a different order than what the coaching staff entered, and the team was disqualified.
This year’s worlds will offer both nations chances at redemption, but an extremely deep field of relays won’t make it easy.
Let’s start with the Americans, who have got to be the odds-on favorites. Caeleb Dressel was a world-beater at 2017 Worlds, routinely going 47-lows in the 100 free. He struggled last summer after crashing his motorcycle (why, else?), but was still 48-low, and already went 47.8 this year. He should be a 47-second leadoff, but it’s really up to your level of optimism whether he’ll be 47-high, -mid or -low (or 46-high, if you’re feeling especially patriotic after the Fourth of July). The rest of the relay has lots of options and little clarity. Blake Pieroni was the fastest American last summer at 48.0, and it’d be hard to justify leaving him off this relay. Nathan Adrian is a reliable vet with a 47.2 split to his name from 2017 Worlds, but he missed some training this year in treatment for cancer. Zach Apple split 47.5 and went 47.7 on a leadoff leg just last week at World University Games. Those seem like the most likely four, but the relay could just as easily include Townley Haas (split 47.4 on the winning relay at 2017 Worlds) or the rising Michael Chadwick.
Maybe the foremost threat is Brazil, a proud sprinting nation that inherited Pan Pacs gold last summer when the U.S. took its DQ. Since September of 2017, Brazil has more 47-second swimmers on its relay than any other nation. They’ve also got two men who have split 46 in previous years. Marcelo Chierighini has been 47.6 this year and split 46.8 at 2017 Worlds. Pedro Spajari split 46.9 at Pan Pacs last summer. Breno Correia is just 20 and rising fast enough to be a 47-contender (he’s been 48.1 individually) and Gabriel Santos has gone 47.9 from a flat start.
The other team that could quite possibly see 47s across the board is Russia, last year’s European champs. Stocked with sprint firepower, Russia is dual-wielding Vlads in Vladislav Grinev (second in the world at 47.43 this year) and Vladimir Morozov (47.4 at Euros last year from a flying start). Yet their fastest split last year wasn’t from either of them: backstroker Kliment Kolesnikov was 47.3 on the anchor leg to hold off Italy. Kolesnikov has dealt with shoulder issues this year and dropped the 200 back from his Worlds lineup – if he’s struggling with health, he may not be up for this relay in what should already be a busy schedule for the 19-year-old (50 back, 100 back, men’s medley relay, mixed medley relay). Danila Izotov and Evgeny Rylov have both been 48.3 individually, so if Kolesnikov can’t go, Russia doesn’t completely crater, but their path to gold gets a lot tougher.
From there, we can pretty safely categorize the rest of the contenders into a few groups: high-ceiling teams that haven’t yet put it all together and teams that swam out of their minds at one of three meets over the past few seasons:
High-Ceiling Teams
Australia should be in contention for gold… but it appears they left one of the best legs home. Kyle Chalmers might be the best swimmer out there on this relay, leading the world at 47.3 this year. Jack Cartwright split 47.5 at 2017 Worlds and has been 48.0 individually, but he’s not on the Australian Worlds roster, unless he’s been added late as a relay-only swimmer. That leaves a handful of likely 48-low splits, including Cameron McEvoy, who was at one point one of the best 100 freestylers in the world.
Italy looks like a powerhouse – they were second at Euros last year and added international free agent Santo Condorelli to their roster. Alessandro Miressi was the 100 free European champ and split 46.9 last summer. The rest of the crew have been 48-mid individually, and good exchanges and splits from all three could put together something like 48-47-47-46, assuming Miressi anchors again.
Then there’s France, looking to rebound after last years disappointment. The reason they missed the final at Euros last year was a 50.0 leadoff from Clement Mignon and a 49.9 leg from Jordan Pothain. Mignon has already been 48.4 this year, and it’s unlikely he’ll be as off as last year’s relay. Jeremy Stravius is a solid 48-second leadoff leg, and Mehdy Metella is a rising star with a 47.4 split on a mixed relay last summer.
The Dutch team had some intriguing 2017 splits, and their depth has come around recently. Kyle Stolk had a 47.8 split on a mixed relay at 2017 Worlds, though he was just 48.6 at 2018 Euros. Jesse Puts was 48.8 in 2017. Meanwhile Stan Pojnenburg and Nyls Korstanje have risen since then, with at 48.1 split and a 48.8 leadoff, respectively. If all four put things together, this relay could have upset potential.
Teams That Swam Lights Out At…
2017 World Championships
Hungary took bronze at 2017 Worlds with a young lineup that looked like a powerhouse for years to come. Richard Bohus was 47.2 on that anchor leg, but only 48.6 at Euros last summer, with Hungary missing the medals in fourth. Nandor Nemeth is a potential 47-second leadoff with a 47.1 split last summer, and Dominik Kozma has been 48.8 individually and 48.2 on a relay recently, though he was 48.1 leading off this relay at 2017 Worlds. They’ll need Bohus and Kozma back at 2017 levels to contend for another medal.
2018 European Championships
Poland bested Hungary for bronze at Euros last summer, getting a big 48.0 split from Jakub Kraska. (For reference, he’s only been 49.1 individually). Jan Switkowski led off in 48.68, just his second time ever under 49, per SwimRankings.net’s database. Meanwhile Kacper Majchrzak has been 48.3 individually after splitting 48.4 last year, and this relay seems to be heating up at the right time.
Greece, meanwhile, well outperformed its individual times with its 2017 splits. Kristian Gkolomeev split 47.5 – he was only 49.1 individually that year. That was a trend for the Greeks: Apostolos Christou split 48.7 despite being only 49.7 individually and Odysseus Meladinis split 49.1 despite a 49.7 individual time. Maybe the Greeks have figured something out on relay starts that no one else is doing, or maybe their team just gets extra charged up for the relay events. Either way, add a career-best 49.13 leadoff from Andreas Vazaios and this team was on fire in 2018.
2018 Asian Games
Japan and China put up a great Asian Games race, with both teams well outpacing their best times from both 2017 Worlds and the 2016 Olympics. Japan could very easily fit into that high-ceiling category. They’ve got three legs who have already been 47 from a relay start and one of them from a flat start, too. Katsumi Nakamura can lead off in 47-high. Katsuhiro Matsumoto split a blazing 47.6 at Asian Games, and Juran Mizohata was 48.1 (he’s only 49-low individually, so that was a great swim). While Shinri Shioura led off that relay, he also split 47.9 anchoring the medley in another great Asian Games race with China. That quartet could be 3:11, adding up Nakamura’s best flat start with the best splits from the other three.
China is hamstrung a little with former world champ Ning Zetao retiring. But Yu Hexin split 47.3 holding off Shioura on the medley relay, and He Junyi has been 48.1 individually.
Tokyo 2020 Qualification Begins
All Olympic relays start their qualification here: the top 12 nations in each relay qualify a relay in that event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. That’s especially important in this event, with a big, loaded field all shooting for top 10 spots – it’ll make prelims almost as exciting as the final.
Count ’em up above: we mentioned 12 teams above, all with chances to make the top 8. There are a few more that could load up their team in prelims to try to catch one of the top teams sleeping and steal their spot in the top 12:
- Canada was 6th at Worlds in 2017, and most of that relay has gotten faster. Markus Thormeyer is already 48.7 individually, and Yuri Kisil split 47.8 at the Commonwealth Games.
- Great Britain has a star in Duncan Scott (47.8 individually, 47.3 split at Euros), but they’ll need a big split from James Guy (48.3 last year) to make up for two 49-high individuals on the other two legs. They also have Ben Proud (who split 47.9 last year) to swap in. But, the question for this team, which has serious top-end potential, but lacks depth to give too many breaks in prelims, is who do they want to have burn through 2 relay swims on day 1 of the meet? For Proud, this would be 4 swims in one day (along with prelims and semis of the 50 fly), though it would leave him plenty of time to recover before the crucial 50 free begins on day 6. They didn’t swim this relay at the 2017 World Championships.
- Serbia nearly had straight-48s at Euros last summer. Velimir Stjepanovic led off in 49.03 and the others were all 48.6 or 48.7. Stjepanovic has also been 48.7 individually as recently as 2017.
- Germany had a nice relay at Euros as well, beating Serbia by .04. Damian Wierling led off in 48.6 and Marius Kusch split 48.5, but he’s already been 48.7 individually this year.
Top 8 Picks
| Place | Country | 2018 Best |
2017 Worlds Finish
|
| 1 | USA | N/A | 1st |
| 2 | Brazil | 3:12.02 | 2nd |
| 3 | Russia | 3:12.23 | 4th |
| 4 | Italy | 3:12.90 | DQ (in Final) |
| 5 | Japan | 3:12.54 | 5th |
| 6 | Australia | 3:12.53 | DQ (in Final) |
| 7 | France | 3:17.15 | N/A |
| 8 | Hungary | 3:14.51 | 3rd |
If the USA had their trials this year…
and the World Champs allowed two relays…
Could the USA go 1-2 in this relay?
Adrian, Apple, Chadwick, Conger, Dressel, Farris, Haas, Held… And that’s only A-H!
Depends – do you try to go 1-2, or do you ensure you get 1 at least. Trying to go 1-2 could easily lead to actually getting 3rd & 4th instead..
Dressel splitting between the WR and AR (let’s say 47 flat) in the leadoff leg will give the us team clean water and a large psychological edge over everyone else. Even if Apple, Pieroni and Adrian all split mid 47s that gets the us team to mid 3.09 which I doubt any of the other teams can hit this year.
You know you described exactly what happened in 2017 and a 3:09 did not happen because 3Rd leg of Brazil and USA were 48 flat
Yeah. Not sure it’s much of a psychological edge to have that lead when every anchor guy on the planet replays Lezak running down Bernard in their heads.
Hard to see anything but a US win. An early chance to see the form of the fastest swimmers in the world & who is in form for the individual.
All the teams walkout, the beep goes off, dressel leads off in a dissapointing 47.00. just as the next leg is about to jump in all the swimmers and crowd turn their heads as JEAH JEAH JEAH erupts from the scaffolding above then. There Ryan lochte is standing at an unheard of 260lbs racing condition. He puts on his cap and goggles, dolphin kicks through the air directly into the pool on top of dressel. He then pops up at 15m with a loping stroke™ taking an unheard of 10 strokes per 50 with a lochte turn™ at the wall. The crowd is blown away as he is about to split 45.9. suddenly he does another lochte turn and swims… Read more »
Some of the best ive read
USA wins and Mr. Dressel lead off in 46.89
Whilst not quite as secure a pick as its female counterpart, this is still one of the easier relays to pick. The 3 podium teams (USA, RUS, BRA) are a level above the rest of field and USA would need to break or have a couple of sub-standard legs not to win this with a degree of comfort.
I will say that 2 swimmer will be on their game, 1 will be par and another will be sub par. Since we’ve seen Apple swim already, I say he will be on par. I also say that Adrian will get the spot and be on his game. I think Caeleb will be on his game and Blake will be sub par.
Caeleb- 46.8
Apple- 47.4
Adrian- 47.3
Blake- 47.8
3:09.3
I feel USA will leave dressel/apple/ Blake of the prelims then have a head ache when the prelim result is like this:
Chadwick 48.2
Seliskar 47.6
Haas 47.6
Adrian 47.7
In 2009 Dave Walters had qualified for the 100free, and didn’t even get a prelim or final swim on 4×100, then went 47.3 and came 5th and split 46 on IM relay, be a big call if they left someone completely off who’s a big name.
If Seliskar goes 47.6 all bets are off he will go 1:44-low
If that happens I’m picking Adrian fairly easily
If Adrian is “tied” with anyone you give him the spot until he proves he doesn’t have it anymore.
Agree. But Haas and Seli are big time relay swimmers. They wouldn’t lose anything with those guys.
It’s the coaches job to make the decision. I am pretty sure they adjust for the reaction times and then pick the quickest guys. It’s understood that prelims is an audition for finals so to override this result is detrimental to the team.
It gets weird when the #2 guy only goes 48.3 in the individual event. Now what do you do?
Leaving Walters off kept them from resetting the world record.
I’ve always wondered what led to that decision
I don’t think you can give Apple the auto spot in finals. I’d give Pieroni and Dressel the nod to finals, then use Adrian-Haas-Apple-Chadwick in prelims and take 2 of them to finals.
I tend to agree with MTK. Realistically, Dressel is the only one that’s on the top 4 for sure even if his taper is a little off. You’ve then got 5 other guys worth of earning a spot: Adrian, Haas, Apple, Chadwick, Pieroni. You’ve gotta pick one to give the benefit of the doubt to. If you’re going to make anyone swim it twice, might as well make it 3 guys who are only there for the relay (Apple, Adrian, Chadwick).
If there were more data points, and Haas, for example, crushed his individual 200, or Pieroni missed his 100, you could make an argument for giving one of them the benefit of the doubt (or the disbenefit of the… Read more »
“Even if his taper is off a bit.” And so it begins…