2023 World Championships: Night 1 Relay Analysis

2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 23 to 30, 2023
• Fukuoka, Japan
• Marine Messe Fukuoka
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Entry Book
• Live Results (Omega)
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap

The first night of relays got off to a hot start with the Australians sweeping the 4×100 freestyle relays, highlighted by a world record from the women’s quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Meg Harris, and Emma McKeon. Kyle Chalmers led the men back from 3rd at the final turn with a monster 46.56 split — his second-fastest ever — to help them claim their first world title in 12 years.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers behind an electric evening session of relays.

After Jack blazed the top time in the world this season with her 52.28 leadoff in prelims, O’Callaghan (52.08) and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom (52.24) were both faster on Sunday night. O’Callaghan dropped four-tenths of a second off her previous best from last month’s Australian Trials while Sjostrom was about half a second off her world record of 51.71 from the 2017 World Championships.

Jack delivered the fastest rolling split in the field at 51.69, with 23-year-old Dutch standout Marrit Steenbergen (51.84) and Aussie teammate McKeon (51.90) joining her under 52 seconds.

Kate Douglass was the fastest American at 52.28, just .01 seconds quicker than the slowest swinging split on the Aussie relay (Meg Harris, 52.29).

Fastest Women’s 4×100 Free Relay Flat Starts

1. Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) – 52.08
2. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 52.24
3. Cheng Yujie (CHN) – 53.39
4. Anna Hopkin (GBR) – 53.67
5. Gretchen Walsh (USA) – 54.06
6. Summer McIntosh (CAN) – 54.99
7. Kim Busch (NED) – 55.05
8. Rikako Ikee (JPN) – 55.09

Fastest Women’s 4×100 Free Relay Rolling Starts

1. Shayna Jack (AUS) – 51.69
2. Marrit Steenbergen (NED) – 51.84
3. Emma McKeon (AUS) – 51.90
4. Kate Douglass (USA) – 52.28
5. Meg Harris (AUS) – 52.29
6. Freya Anderson (GBR) – 52.51
7. Wu Qingfeng (CHN) – 52.64
8. Abbey Weitzeil (USA) – 52.71
9. Zhang Yufei (CHN) – 52.84
10. Olivia Smoliga (USA) – 52.88
11. Maggie MacNeil (CAN) – 53.07
12. Michelle Coleman (SWE) – 53.11
13. Tie: Yang Junxuan (CHN) – 53.53 / Lucy Hope (GBR) – 53.53
14. –
15. Nagisa Ikemoto (JPN) – 53.62
16. Taylor Ruck (CAN) – 53.99
17. Louise Hansson (SWE) – 54.11
18. Sam van Nunen (NED) – 54.13
19. Abbie Wood (GBR) – 54.19
20. Milou van Wijk (NED) – 54.39
21. Mary-Sophie Harvey (CAN) – 54.57
22. Rio Shirai (JPN) – 54.64
23. Sara Juvenik (SWE) – 54.71
24. Yume Jinno (JPN) – 55.26

Chalmers’ 46.56 stole the headlines — and rightfully so, as it was his second-fastest ever behind his 46.44 from the Tokyo 2021 Olympics — but there were a couple other impressive sub-47 second splits as well.

At 20 years old, Brazil’s Gui Caribe clocked a 46.76 to vault himself into the medal conversation for the individual men’s 100 free race later this week. China’s Wang Haoyu, just 17 years old, threw down a 46.97 split to nearly catch American anchor Matt King (47.32) for the final spot on the podium.

Alessandro Miressi posted a very promising performance for the Italians after only going 48.61 at April’s Italian Championships. The 24-year-old registered the fastest leadoff split in the field at 47.54, within a tenth of his Italian record (47.45) from the 2021 European Championships.

The top performer in the world heading into this meet, 18-year-old Pan Zhanle, logged the second-fastest flat start split in the field (47.67), .45 seconds slower than his Asian record from May.

Fastest Flat Starts

1. Alessandro Miressi (ITA) – 47.54
2. Pan Zhanle (CHN) – 47.67
3. Jack Cartwright (AUS) – 47.84
4. Ryan Held (USA) – 48.16
5. Josh Liendo (CAN) – 48.17
6. Tomer Frankel (ISR) – 48.43
7. Sergio de Celis Montalban (ESP) – 48.77
8. Marcelo Chierighini (BRA) – 48.84

Fastest Men’s 4×100 Free Relay Rolling Starts

1. Kyle Chalmers (AUS) – 46.56
2. Gui Caribe (BRA) – 46.76
3. Wang Haoyu (CHN) – 46.97
4. Thomas Ceccon (ITA) – 47.03
5. Ruslan Gaziev (CAN) – 47.30
6. Matt King (USA) – 47.32
7. Jack Alexy (USA) – 47.56
8. Chris Giuliano (USA) – 47.77
9. Manuel Frigo (ITA) – 47.79
10. Tie: Juner Chen (CHN) – 47.85 / Flynn Southam (AUS) – 47.85 / Jack Alexy (USA) – 47.85
11. –
12. –
13. Javier Acevedo (CAN) – 47.88
14. Kai Taylor (AUS) – 47.91
15. Lorenzo Zazzeri (ITA) – 48.13
16. Felipe Ribeiro de Souza (BRA) – 48.40
17. Denis Loktev (ISR) – 48.46
18. Luis Dominguez Calonge (ESP) – 48.47
19. Cesar Castro Valle (ESP) – 48.54
20. Gal Cohen Groumi (ISR) – 48.57
21. Finlay Knox (CAN) – 48.70
22. Mario Molla Yanes (ESP – 48.86
23. Wang Changhao (CHN) – 48.87
24. Ron Polonsky (ISR) – 49.07