How Does the Canadian Women’s 4 x 100 Medley Relay Stack Up After Trials?

After finishing with a Bronze at last year’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, and the 2021 Olympic Games, the hot topic at Canadian Olympic Trials last week was if the Canadian women are poised to return the podium in the 400 medley relay in Paris this summer. Qualifying first out of the morning in 2023 with a time of 3:55.93, Canada substituted two swimmers into the evening relay: Kylie Masse taking over for Ingrid Wilm on backstroke and Summer McIntosh taking over for Mary-Sophie Harvey on freestyle to finish with a time of 3:54.12, just 1.5 seconds off their Olympic Bronze medal finish. 

Now that Olympic Trials are over and the Canadian team is set, we can take a look at how the team is beginning to stack up compared to recent years. (Hint: things are looking good in the Great White North). Without any adjustment for relay takeovers and taking all top finishers’ times at face value, the Canadian women’s 2024 Paris relay looks like this:

• Back – Kylie Masse –  57.94
• Breast – Sophie Angus – 1:06.96
• Fly – Maggie MacNeil 56.61
• Free – Penny Oleksiak – 53.66
• Add-Up Time – 3:55.17

In the 2023 World Championship relay, Masse led off in 58.74, but despite a few up and down years since Tokyo, she took off nearly a second from that time at the recent Canadian Olympic Trials, just missing her best time of 57.70. Sophie Angus was just off her personal best at Trials, though her best time comes from the World Championships in Doha in February of this year. This coupled with a relay start are likely to see her back in form to replicate or improve on her 2023 split of 1:06.21. 

Reigning 100 fly Olympic champion Maggie MacNeil is still looking to get back to under that 56-second mark, her relay split from Tokyo being a blazing 55.27. Returning from the Tokyo Bronze medal relay as well is Penny Oleksiak who closed their Olympic relay in 52.26. However, with the meteoric rise of young star Summer McIntosh who anchored the medley relay in 2023 in the same night she won the 400 IM by over 4 seconds, the coaches of the Canadian National Team may have a decision to make about who secures that final anchor leg especially when her best time of 53.90 would have put her in the mix at Trials.

With all the returning experience for the Canadian women, they are well poised to compete for another medal this summer in Paris. With the 100 breast and free titles only being separated by 0.04 and 0.05 seconds respectively at their Trials last week, Canada has enough depth to feel confident in their relay alternates abilities to position them well in the morning relay.

Their fight for a medal does not come without intense competition. They will likely face the United States, Australia, China, and Sweden in a repeat of both the 2021 Olympic and 2023 World Championship top 5 contenders. With the United States and Australia still awaiting their trials, there is some time until we can start stacking up the exact splits, but it is safe to say that both teams are big favorites to medal.

Australia’s breaststroke leg is their weakness, (much like Canada), while the United States will have some decisions to make on the back legs after Trials with Torri Huske, Kate Douglass, and Gretchen Walsh all primed to have great swims in the 100 free and Huske / Walsh also competing in the 100 fly.

Sweden has named all 4 women from their 2023 World Championship relay team back to their Olympic roster: Michelle Coleman, Sophie Hansson, Louise Hansson, and Sarah Sjoestroem. Adding up their best times would put them at 3:53.24 before relay takeovers, and if there is one thing everyone knows, it’s that Sjoestroem can never be counted out to close a relay.

China will be returning three out of four swimmers from its 4th-place 2023 World Championship relay, Letian Wan on backstroke, Qianting Tang on breaststroke, and Yufei Zhang on butterfly. Notably, Qianting Tang notched a 1:04.39 at Chinese Nationals in April, shaving nearly 2 seconds of her relay-start time of 1:06.13 from the relay last summer at World Championships. This coupled with their top 100 freestyle qualifier, Junxuan Yang, throwing down a 52.68 to win Chinese Nationals, their relay is shaping up to be a strong medal contender as well with a flat add-up time of 3:52.21.

Great Britain finished 9th at last year’s World Championships, missing out on the final altogether by about four-tenths of a second. This week, though, a big performance that could shore up one of that relay’s weakest legs thrust them back into the conversation.

21-year-old Angharad Evans is destined play a critical role in their relay this summer with her recent 1:05.54 in the 100 breast at the AP Race International over the weekend. If repeated in Paris, that could make a two-second impact on their result from last year’s World Championships. That is two of probably about five seconds they need to find to make the podium.

But with a glut of sprinters, a best time at the 2024 World Championships from backstroker Lauren Cox (59.60), and butterflyer Keanna MacInnes ahead of schedule this season in the 100 fly (58.32 at Trials), they are a much better relay this year. They would need someone besides Evans to pull a rabbit out of the hat to land on the podium, but they’re one big leg closer to that outcome.

Additional Relay Outlook

The Canadian women are also poised to contend for medals in both freestyle relays. At the last Olympic Games they finished 2nd in the 4 x 100 free and 4th in the 4 x 200 free relay, and they will be returning many key names from those teams including Summer McIntosh, Maggie MacNeil, Penny Oleksiak, and Mary-Sophie Harvey.

It will be a fierce competition all throughout the Games and Paris and especially on the last night of competition when the 4 x 100 Medley relays go off for both men and women, but the growing depth of Canadian Swimming as well as the multitude of returning talent bodes well as the team begins to prepare themselves for a trip across the pond to a country they are historically quite familiar with. 

Many countries will be vying for a place atop the podium in Paris and until the time comes, we will not know for sure how things will shake out. Until then, we will continue to keep an eye on the ongoing Trials happening around the world as we prepare for a Summer Games that promises a near return to normalcy for spectators and athletes.