Dressel & Adrian Hop In For the USA Heading Into The Men’s 4×100 Free Relay

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
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FINA has released the men’s 4×100 relay finals lineups with the first medal/semifinals session less than an hour away. The USA men lead the relay with a second advantage on the rest of the field. The race for silver will be tough with Great Britain, Russia, Australia, and Italy all separated by two-tenths of a second.

Men’s 4×100 Free Relay Final Lineups:

1. France (Mignon, Stravius, Paco Pedroni, Metella)
2. Italy (Condorelli, Frigo, Dotto, Miressi)
3. Russia (Grinev, Morozov, Kolesnikov, Rylov)
4. USA (Dressel, Pieroni, Apple, Adrian)
5. Great Britain (Scott, Guy, Proud, McLay)
6. Australia (McEvoy, Lewis, Graham, Chalmers)
7. Brazil (Chierighini, Spajari, Fratus, Correia)
8. Hungary (Kozma, Milak, Holoda, Nemeth)

USA

The Americans are the heavy favorites to win the men’s 4×100 free relay and have saved two vital relay assets for this finals session. Caeleb Dressel will be leading off for the Americans after Townley Haas‘ 48.60 prelims lead-off split. Dressel leads the men’s 50 fly semifinals and is a heavy favorite to win the 100 free after scaring the super-suit world record in 2017. Both Blake Pieroni (47.32) and Zach Apple (47.47) will stay on for finals while Michael Chadwick has been replaced by veteran Nathan Adrian. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist has been an American relay asset for years, and has been through much training getting back into shape.

Great Britain

The GBR men have kept the same line-up from prelims into the final. All four members split relatively even, ranging from 47-high to 48-mid. Leadoff Duncan Scott and sprint-ace Ben Proud will be crucial legs for the British as versatile James Guy and anchor Scott McLay will fight on for top 3 honors.

Russia

The Russian men saved up their star sprinter Vladimir Morozov for the finals relay, replacing Andrei Minakov‘s 48.94 prelims split. Backstroke aces Evgeny Rylov and Kliment Kolesnikov remain on the relay as Vladislav Grinev will lead-off.

Australia

Having no changes to their lineup or order, the Aussie men will need to put up their dukes as they sit 0.01s behind Russia and finished 0.01s ahead of the Italians. In prelims, both Clyde Lewis and Kyle Chalmers swam 47.9s in prelims while Cameron McEvoy and Alexander Graham were 48-lows.

Italy

Luca Dotto has replaced Alessandro Bori for the Italian finals relay. Santo Condorelli led off the prelims relay in a 48.67, but hundredths of a second will make a difference as they have a great chance of snagging a medal. Alessandro Miressi and anchor Manuel Frigo put up sub-48 swims in prelims and will be vital legs as they race top the fastest countries in the final.