Day 4 Relay Analysis: McKeon Records Fastest 50 Free Split In History At 22.62

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Two more relay world records were broken on Night 4 of the Short Course World Championships, as the French team took down the mark in the mixed 200 free and the Americans crushed the all-time record in the men’s 800 free.

In addition to the new world records, the relays also produced the fastest women’s 50 free split of all-time from Australia’s Emma McKeon, and some of the quickest legs ever for the men’s 200 freestyle.

Let’s dive into the splits:

MIXED 200 FREE RELAY

Men’s Lead-off Splits

Michael Andrew had his best swim of the meet thus far leading off the U.S. relay, recording an unofficial best time of 20.81 to inch out France’s Maxime Grousset and Australia’s Kyle Chalmers.

Andrew notably scratched out of the 50 free semis after qualifying eighth overall out of the heats in a time of 21.02, as he had the final of the 100 IM just minutes later.

20.81 would’ve ranked Andrew third in the 50 free semis, while Chalmers ended up going slightly faster than he did here (20.91), and Grousset was slightly slower (20.97).

Men’s Flying Splits

Florent Manaudou vaulted France into a lead that they would not relinquish with a blistering 20.26 split, matching his flat start best time that previously stood as the world record.

Manaudou had a .15 reaction off the blocks, and in the 50 free semis, where he finished seventh in 20.95, his RT was .65. Therefore, his ‘through the water’ time was 20.11 in the relay, compared to 20.30 individually, so he’s capable of getting into 20.7 territory in the 50 free final if everything fires.

Thom de Boer, who split 20.56 in the men’s 200 free relay prelims, was second-fastest at 20.61. de Boer had an ‘off’ swim and missed the semi-finals in the individual event, placing 21st in 21.35.

Women’s Flying Splits

Emma McKeon‘s scintillating 22.62 split for Australia (.10 reaction) is the fastest women’s 50 free leg in history, overtaking Ranomi Kromowidjojo‘s pair of 22.70s from 2009 and 2010.

McKeon had previously split 22.73 on the women’s 200 free relay, which made her the second-fastest swimmer of all-time.

Beryl Gastaldello came through for France with a massive 23-flat, further extending their lead over the field, and then Melanie Henique shut the door with a 23.15 as they finished in 1:27.33 to break the world record of 1:27.89 set by the Americans in 2018.

Maaike de Waard (23.35) and Marrit Steenbergen (23.43) were clutch for the Dutch, as de Waard was faster than she was on the 200 free relay and Steenbergen got the call-up after she wasn’t on the women’s 200 free relay lineup in finals. That propelled the Netherlands into bronze, while the Americans took fourth.

Erika Brown was more than two-tenths quicker than she was in the 200 free relay for the U.S. in 23.53, while medley specialist Alex Walsh, who earned her finals spot after splitting 23.73 in the heats, was two-tenths off of that in 23.95.

MEN’S 800 FREE RELAY

Lead-off Splits

The big guns were firing on the opening leg of the men’s 800 free relay, as Hwang Sunwoo set a new South Korean Record of 1:40.99 and Kieran Smith set a new personal best time by over seven-tenths in 1:41.04 for the Americans.

Australia’s Thomas Neill wasn’t far behind in 1:41.50, as it’s clear all three will be major players in the individual 200 free on Sunday.

Flying Splits

Kyle Chalmers led a trio of men who split 1:40-point with a takeover, as the Australian was 1:40.35 which appears to be the fastest relay leg in history. However, four men have been faster from a flat start.

The previous fastest split on record is the 1:40.48 Ryan Lochte dropped in 2012.

Carson Foster matched that Lochte split for the Americans, swimming head-to-head with Chalmers on the second leg, and Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto (also swimming second) was 1:40.66 for Japan.

Foster won’t be competing, but Hwang, Smith, Neill, Chalmers and Matsumoto will all be gold medal challengers in the individual 200 free, as will the likes of Matt Sates and David Popovici.

Another factor will be Drew Kibler, who followed Trenton Julian (1:41.44) to anchor the Americans home in 1:41.16, as the quartet finished in a time of 6:44.12 to demolish the world record of 6:46.81 set in 2018 by Brazil.

With Flynn Southam chipping in a 1:41.5 (with a .06 reaction), Australia also went under the old record in 6:46.54.

The Italians had Alberto Razzetti, Thomas Ceccon and Paolo Conte Bonin all swim a little bit out of their comfort zone event-wise to edge out South Korea for bronze.