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
- Competition Schedule
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Entry Lists
- Results
Swimming in the finals of the women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay Thursday night at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, the team of Anna Egorova, Anastasia Guzhenkova, Valeriia Salamatina, and Veronika Andrusenko combined for a 7:48.25, shaving just over a quarter-second from the Russian National Record in the event.
The previous mark, set only two years ago at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, stood at 7:48.59 and was registered by Veronika Popova, Viktoriya Andreyeva, Daria Ustinova, and Arina Openshyeva.
Though Russia didn’t have a swimmer sub-1:56 today, their consistency of times across the board made the difference in the overall times. Daria Ustinova and Valeriia Salamatina, both of whom swam the third leg of the relay, registered identical times of 1:56.93 in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
A comparison of the two team’s splits is detailed below.
Russia’s Splits 2017 to 2019 World Championships:
| Russia – 2017 World Championships | Splits | Russia – 2019 World Championships | Splits |
| Veronika Popova | 1:55.95 | Anna Egorova | 1:58.19 |
| Viktoriya Andreyeva | 1:57.48 | Anastasia Guzhenkova | 1:56.43 |
| Daria Ustinova | 1:56.93 | Valeriia Salamatina | 1:56.93 |
| Arina Openshyeva | 1:58.23 | Veronika Andrusenko | 1:56.70 |
| TOTAL TIME | 7:48.59 | TOTAL TIME | 7:48.25 |
The Russians finished 5th overall in Gwangju, 6.75 seconds behind the champions from Australia, who set a new World Record in their gold medal effort. The American team also slipped under the previous World Record, set by China in 2009, but couldn’t quite match the Australians. Canada finished 3rd in another new National Record, and China 5th, a little over four seconds over their National Record and former World Record.