Great Britain Decimiates European Record In Mixed Medley Relay

2018 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• August 3-9, 2018 (swimming portion)
• Glasgow, Scotland
• Tollcross International Swimming Centre
• Meet Central
• Program
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Live Stream (Europe w/ English commentary)

The British team of Georgia Davies, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Freya Anderson broke their own European Record in the mixed 400 medley relay to win gold at the European Championships.

The race was expected to come down to Great Britain and the Russians, and that’s the way it shaped up heading into the freestyle leg. Davies swam the fastest 100 back of her career in 59.12, and Peaty (57.27) and Guy (50.96) both had the fastest splits in the field on their legs (Davies was also the fastest female backstroker by a full second) to give Anderson a seven-second advantage over Russia heading into the freestyle.

Russia had Vlad Morozov on their anchor, but it ultimately didn’t matter as Anderson split 52.83, her fastest ever, to touch in a time of 3:40.18 and win the gold decisively. The Brits shattered their European Record set at last summer’s Worlds (3:41.56) and also were well under their Championship Record set four years ago in Berlin (3:44.02).

If we look at a split comparison between the new record and their swim last summer, Davies and Anderson were where the differences came. Both Peaty and Guy were slightly slower, but Davies was almost a full second better than she was and Anderson out-split Siobhan-Marie O’Connor by over a second on the freestyle. Anderson’s leg did stand up as the fastest in the field (among the six teams who swam a woman on freestyle), with Ranomi Kromowidjojo the only other swimmer sub-53 (52.98).

Great Britain’s time also stands up as the 2nd fastest in history, with only the U.S. world record of 3:38.56 being faster. They overtook Australia, Canada and China’s swims from Budapest, along with the U.S. prelim relay that was previously the 2nd fastest ever at 3:40.28.

Morozov and the Russians won silver in 3:42.71, with Kliment Kolesnikov notably leading them off faster than he swam individually in 52.51 (though that won’t officially count as a Junior World Record). Italy won bronze in 3:44.85, with Alessandro Miressi (47.60) splitting quicker than Morozov (47.83) on the anchor.