The British men and women swam a fantastic mixed 4×100 medley relay, winning gold as well as setting a new world record in the event.
This is the first year that the World Championships have held mixed relays, and the Brits really put on a show. Most teams decided to put men on the slowest strokes, backstroke and breaststroke, while having the women swim the faster strokes of freestyle and butterfly. It so happens that GBR has fantastic backstroke and breaststroke ranks on the men’s side, and the same for the women in butterfly and freestyle (although more so for the men). Here are their splits:
Chris Walker-Hebborn 52.94
Adam Peaty 57.98
Siobhan-Marie O’Connor 57.02
Fran Halsall 53.77
The Americans (silver medalists) were never in first place after the first 50 of the race, as world record holder Peaty pushed the Brits to a large lead after Walker-Hebborn’s lead-off and O’Connor put up a fantastic fly leg herself. Halsall closed with speed, and nobody was catching them. They broke the world record by over six tenths.