2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
- Budapest, Hungary
- Duna Arena
- LCM (50-meter format)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
Official psych sheets for the upcoming World Championships in Budapest have been released, so we now know which countries will enter which relays at the event. The 2022 World Championships in Budapest will feature the men’s, women’s, and mixed 4×100 freestyle and medley, along with the men’s and women’s 4×200 freestyle.
The relay with the least amount of entries is the women’s 4×100 freestyle in which only 11 teams have registered to race. The mainstays of this event in recent years are all set to race but a few notable omissions include France, Sweden, and Denmark. The French men are also absent from this event.
There seems to be an increasing number of nations that haven’t entered into relays despite being strong contenders for a finals swim. Other examples of this in Budapest include Japan not entering the women’s 4×100 medley, Poland in the men’s 4×100 medley, France in the women’s 4×200 freestyle, Switzerland in the men’s 4×200 freestyle, and Hungary in the men’s 4×100 freestyle.
All of those are examples of nations not entering a relay event in which they placed in the top 10 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Reasons for these absences may vary such as not having qualified enough athletes to fill out each relay or nations not wanting to swim their best swimmers in relays they might not medal in, favoring relay events.
All of the gold medal-winning relays from Tokyo 2020 will be returning to the field in Budapest to attempt a second-straight title. Many of the members of those relay-winning teams will be missing including Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell, and Bronte Campbell of Australia and Duncan Scott, Kathleen Dawson, and Adam Peaty of Great Britain.
Note that there are a lot more entries in the mixed relays, primarily driven by the fact that each country gets to bring a minimum of two male and two female swimmers, if they choose, but not more without qualifying standards. For lesser swimming nations, that makes assembling a foursome for a mixed relay easier.
You can see all of the relay entries for the World Championships here:
Women’s 4×100 Freestyle (x11)
- Australia: 3:29.69
- Canada: 3:32.78
- USA: 3:32.81
- Netherlands: 3:33.51
- Great Britain: 3:33.96
- China: 3:34.76
- Brazil: 3:38.59
- Hungary: 3:40.62
- Israel: 3:41.61
- Thailand: 3:48.63
- South Korea: NT
Men’s 4×100 Freestyle (x19)
- USA: 3:08.97
- Italy: 3:10.11
- Australia: 3:10.22
- Canada: 3:10.82
- Hungary: 3:11.06
- Great Britain: 3:11.56
- Brazil: 3:12.59
- Germany: 3:13.39
- Serbia: 3:13.71
- Sweden: 3:15.83
- Israel: 3:17.82
- Egypt: 3:20.04
- South Africa: 3:21.04
- Thailand: 3:24.28
- China: NT
- Hong Kong: NT
- South Korea: NT
- Singapore: NT
- Taiwan: NT
Mixed 4×100 Freestyle (x30)
- Great Britain: 3:22.07
- Netherlands: 3:22.26
- Italy: 3:22.64
- Sweden: 3:27.30
- Brazil: 3:29.42
- Germany: 3:40.99
- Peru: 3:43.02
- Bahamas: 3:50.50
- Morocco: 3:56.27
- Uganda: 4:09.93
- Tanzania: 4:21.00
- Australia: NT
- Canada: NT
- China: NT
- France: NT
- Guam: NT
- Hong Kong: NT
- Israel: NT
- South Korea: NT
- Latvia: NT
- Maldives: NT
- Mongolia: NT
- Namibia: NT
- New Zealand: NT
- Seychelles: NT
- Singapore: NT
- Thailand: NT
- Taiwan: NT
- USA: NT
- Vietnam: NT
Women’s 4×200 Freestyle (x12)
- China: 7:40.33
- USA: 7:40.73
- Australia: 7:41.29
- Canada: 7:43.77
- Great Britain: 7:53.15
- Hungary: 7:56.16
- Japan: 7:58.39
- Brazil: 7:59.50
- Israel: 8:00.51
- New Zealand: 8:06.16
- Austria: 8:10.42
- South Korea: 8:11.16
Men’s 4×200 Freestyle (x16)
- Great Britain: 6:58.58
- Australia: 7:01.84
- USA: 7:02.43
- Italy: 7:03.24
- Germany: 7:06.51
- France: 7:07.24
- Hungary: 7:07.67
- Brazil: 7:07.73
- China: 7:08.27
- Israel: 7:08.65
- South Korea: 7:11.45
- Singapore: 7:24.49
- Vietnam: 7:40.73
- Canada: NT
- Thailand: NT
- Taiwan: NT
Women’s 4×100 Medley (x15)
- Australia: 3:51.60
- USA: 3:51.73
- Canada: 3:52.60
- Great Britain: 3:54.01
- China: 3:54.13
- Sweden: 3:54.27
- Italy: 3:55.79
- Netherlands: 3:57.41
- South Africa: 4:01.92
- France: 4:02.43
- Brazil: 4:04.33
- Greece: NT
- Israel: NT
- South Korea: NT
- Thailand: NT
Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay (x24)
- USA: 3:26.78
- Great Britain: 3:27.51
- Italy: 3:29.17
- Australia: 3:29.60
- Japan: 3:29.91
- China: 3:31.72
- Canada: 3:32.37
- France: 3:32.50
- Germany: 3:34.08
- Greece: 3:34.61
- Lithuania: 3:25.48
- Austria: 3:36.62
- Singapore: 3:37.69
- South Africa: 3:38.13
- Vietnam: 3:39.76
- Egypt: 3:41.70
- Brazil: 3:42.51
- Thailand: 3:43.67
- Israel: 3:46.90
- Paraguay: 3:58.28
- Spain: NT
- Hong Kong: NT
- South Korea: NT
- Taiwan: NT
Mixed 4×100 Medley (x35)
- Great Britain: 3:37.58
- China: 3:38.41
- Australia: 3:38.95
- Italy: 3:39.28
- USA: 3:40.58
- Netherlands: 3:41.25
- Israel: 3:43.94
- Japan: 3:44.15
- Germany: 3:44.19
- Greece: 3:44.77
- Brazil: 3:45.51
- Canada: 3:46.54
- Estonia: 3:50.94
- Argentina: 3:53.84
- Lithuania: 3:54.86
- Slovakia: 3:55.87
- South Africa: 3:56.74
- Latvia: 4:00.90
- Bahamas: 4:14.11
- Angola: 4:14.58
- Peru: 4:16.76
- Seychelles: 4:28.29
- Morocco: 4:29.26
- Uganda: 4:37.65
- Tanzania: 4:53.09
- Guam: NT
- Hong Kong: NT
- South Korea: NT
- Maldives: NT
- Mongolia: NT
- Namibia: NT
- Singapore: NT
- Thailand: NT
- Taiwan: NT
- Vietnam: NT
Relay Entries by Country
| 4×100 Free – Men | 4×200 Free – Men | 4×100 Medley – Men | 4×100 Free – Women | 4×200 Free – Women | 4×100 Medley – Women | 4×100 Free – Mixed | 4×100 Medley – Mixed | Total Relays | |
| USA | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| AUS | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| CAN | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| GBR | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| BRA | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| ISR | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| CHN | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| KOR | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 |
| THA | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 7 | |
| ITA | X | X | X | X | X | X | 6 | ||
| GRE | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | |||
| RSA | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | |||
| VIE | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | |||
| SGP | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | |||
| TPE | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | |||
| HUN | X | X | X | X | 4 | ||||
| HKG | X | X | X | X | 4 | ||||
| FRA | X | X | X | X | 4 | ||||
| JPN | X | X | X | X | 4 | ||||
| NED | X | X | X | X | 4 | ||||
| SWE | X | X | X | 3 | |||||
| GER | X | X | X | 3 | |||||
| EGY | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| LTU | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| AUT | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| NZL | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| PER | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| ANG | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| BAH | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| MAR | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| UGA | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| TAN | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| LAT | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| SEY | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| GUM | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| MDV | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| MGL | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| NMA | X | X | 2 | ||||||
| SRB | X | 1 | |||||||
| PAR | X | 1 | |||||||
| ESP | X | 1 | |||||||
| EST | X | 1 | |||||||
| ARG | X | 1 | |||||||
| SVK | X | 1 |
Anything can happen, but Team USA is a virtual lock for the men’s medley relay.
With Peaty out *and* if Team USA uses a male for breaststroke, the mixed medley relay is a virtual lock, too.
South Korea has relays in all events. I’m ready for Hwang’s splits
Beyond joke, that a home nation not even trying half of the relays. This is one the main reasons why Hungary has only one medal during olympics or world champs in 70 years.
Didn’t Hosszu alone win 4 medals in Rio?
RELAYS
I think it just goes to show they need to include mixed free relay in the Olympics as well if they want more countries to participate in relays outside the usual countries
The question that was NOT asked is …… which will be the relays that the various countries seriously pursue and which ones might they “scratch” or de-emphasize by not fielding their peak talents.
Sadly that is the reality for every country that is NOT the US, and even then they may choose not to field their best performers in something like the mixed free relay. Mind you, its still quite likely they may win given their notional closest competition AUS is below top strength this year and this is one they may “phone it in”.
I’m holding out hope for Aus in the mixed free. Taking the entry times of MOC, Jack, Chalmers (using his PB because he doesn’t have an entry time) and Incerti, that should theoretically be faster than any other team in the field, even without McKeon. My maths says that’s 3:20.68.
Presumably USA are the other top team, so using the entry times (but PB for Dressel because I used Kyle’s PB) for Dressel, Curry, Huske and Curzan that gives 3:21.93.
Will definitely depend on Kyle’s form, but I don’t see USA winning if they phone it in.
I really want them to prioritise it because it’s our second strongest relay gold medal prospect.
None of the others are gold medal prospects.
Yeah definitely agree with this.
Incerti or Temple??? Both are big mates with kyle
Temple 48.0 PB
3.19.90
One thing with Jack …..Her schedule is hectic 50m, 100m plus relays galore. She could even swim a 4×2 relay heat.
Jack’s only 200 this year was a 1:59 so she probably won’t swim a 4×200 heat. O’Callaghan will probably swim the mixed medley final and one of Harris or Wilson the prelim.
1.59 for a heat is good enough…well id have her swimming it
There’s already 7 other swimmers there that are faster so we’re swapping all four out again? Hope not.
Jack has nothing on Sunday or Monday and her only potential swim on Tuesday is the MMR heat. I assume they would let her swim it if she wants to? She’s second fastest in 100 free and doesn’t interfere with anything, still giving her a full 24 hours before her next swim.
Although I guess if they want to share the love they could give it to Harris or Wilson who have only 1 individual each. Ultimately they know they’re making the final so really they’re just deciding who gets a (possible) heat medal.
EDIT: Actually, do we think they might swim Wilson in backstroke for the heat? Kaylee/Mollie won’t be swimming the heat so it’s either that or use… Read more »
I expect they’ll reward Harris and Wilson somehow. Probably backstroke in MMR will be male. Wilson probably do back in the MR prelim.
Harris will get free in the MMR prelim or MR prelim and Jack the other.
When you say back will be male you mean just for the MMR prelim right? We know ZSC and MOC have to swim Br and Fr in the final. So that leaves Kaylee and Temple, or Throssell and Larkin/Cooper. There’s just no way we don’t go with Kaylee/Temple. The difference would be like 3 full seconds.
MMR
Prelim: Cooper S-Cook Throssell Harris
Final: McKeown S-Cook Temple O’Callaghan
WMR
Prelim: Wilson Harkin Throssell Jack
Final: McKeown Strauch Throssell O’Callaghan
You could easily reverse Jack and Harris
Yes, this seems like the likely outcome for both relays.
Interested to see how Cooper and Larkin goes, because either one of them could be in the Men’s relay. Really hoping Cooper can improve his 100 from trials…
One after thought is Jack has a stronger chance at a medal in the 50 free so perhaps reversing her and Harris would be better so she’s as fresh as possible.
Either way it seems like one of the 50 girls will be on the prelim… Harris may not make the final so in that case would definitely make sense to use her. But that won’t be known until after the MMR has happened.
MMR
Prelim = Wilson, ZSC, Chalmers, Jack
Final = McKeon, ZSC, Temple, MOC
Wilson will swim the backstroke in the heat.
Temple has a better PB than Incerti, but Temple didn’t qualify for the event at trials, so I was going with Incerti. Incerti also split a 47.55 in Tokyo so his potential in a relay is better than the entry time (48.51) would suggest.
Why would they put Jack on a 200 relay heat instead of putting her on the Mixed Free Relay final where she actually is in the top 2? It would be totally bizarre for someone with a hectic schedule to be put on a heat they don’t need to be on but off a final they can contribute to.
Assuming she swims every relay she is eligible her schedule would be:
Saturday: 100 free relay final… Read more »
Yeah i can see your point……It’ll be a hell of a lot easier at Comms with 2 major inclusions.
Add to your argument is the fact that all 7 200m Free finalists are on the team, if I’m correct.
So no real need to race Jack in 200m.
We are talking about an event, that we will Bronze at best.
Happy to be corrected.
You think we will get bronze at best in the women’s 200 free? I don’t agree with that. Excluding Titmus, our entire relay is in the top 6 for this year. Obviously I am expecting China and Canada to put up much better times than their official times for the year, but to say Australia is bronze at best is incorrect IMO. Australia has potential for gold, depending on how things shake out.
EDIT: Oh wait, I may have misread this. If you’re talking about the MMR, then yes, we will get bronze at best.
4×200 will be very close between Aus, China and Canada. Could totally go any way, I’d be thinking silver at least. US team is much weaker than Tokyo.
Liendo 48 low but ready to break out into 47 range.
Kisil 47.1 split last summer
Penny 52.5 flat and multiple 52 lows
Any one of Sanchez/Ruck/MacNeil capable of 53 low, 52 high
321 if they click and things go well
320 if things go very well
Taking the PB of Liendo, Kisil, Oleksiak and Ruck is 3:21.60, about a second slower than Aus flat start times. That’s faster than USA, even with Dressel.
Wow seems like Canada may be the ones to watch
EDIT: Although to be fair, that is using PBs and not times from this year. Using times from this year Canada would be way slower.
My view is that nearly everyone is fielding sub optimal teams this year and resource management is at even more of a premium under those circumstances.
Whilst it would be ideal to chase as many medals and titles as possible, this year that is all that’s on the line versus next year where you have Olympic auto qualification.
For AUS, they have a number of decisions to be made and I certainly concede MFR is not the only card on the bargaining table.
- all 3 women’s relays are solid medal bets (even weakened 4XMED), should bat min 1/3 gold
- correspondingly men’s relays are marginal probably only batting 1/3 on medals with 4XMED a triage candidate
- both mixed
… Read more »I agree with what Troyy said above. I think we should prioritise gold medals, and the three relays with gold medal potential are Women’s 100 free, Women’s 200 free and Mixed Free. We should have our 100% A team on all of those. There is zero reason not to.
The 3 men’s relays really depend on how in form Kyle is. Without a fit Kyle, I don’t think any of those 3 medal at all. But really, none of the men have huge schedules. Are any of our men doing 3 individual events? I don’t see any harm in having our entire A team on all the men’s relays. ZSC, Winnington and Horton are probably the only 3 who have… Read more »
I acknowledge your arguments and can go along at least part of the way with them. I fully agree that there is admirable freestyle cover on the women’s side for both freestyle relays plus a shot at the MFR. I am, however, probably more “bearish” with regards to the men’s relays where I only see 4X200 as a viable contender.
Where I differ with regards to a serious MFR foray is that whilst AUS women certainly hold the strongest hand; I’m not sold on the men. Chalmers’ relay superhero feats have repeatedly saved the M4X100 albeit even he hasn’t been able to save the 4XMED but there’s no escaping the reality that the 2nd AUS male will be appreciably lower… Read more »
I just don’t understand this. Mixed free relay is literally our second best shot at a relay gold after W100 free. Why wouldn’t you make it a priority? It’s not even in a bad scheduling position.
Assuming the team is MOC, Jack, Chalmers and Incerti
MOC: Only swim that day, second last swim before Medley Relay the following day.
Jack: Clash with 50 free semis which is an easy double. 50 free final the next day.
Chalmers: Clash with 100 fly final (if he makes it). Second last swim before medley relay the next day.
Incerti: No clash and it would be his last swim.
Chalmers split a 46.4 and 46.6 in Tokyo. Even if he… Read more »
I think there is a mistake in the article: Hungary is in for 4×100 Men relay.
Interesting that there’s no Sweden in the 4×1, feel like Sjostrom, Hansson, Coleman + a 4th could make a finals relay.
No Coleman (she’s taking a break), and head of Swimming said they aren’t going to risk individual chances by trying to battle for a finals spot in a relay.
They don’t want to tire Sjostrom making her swim so many relay prelims because they have no depth, and no chance for medal.
It happened in Rio, she was spent by swimming all the relay prelims (and finals) she didn’t even final in 50 free (last day)
A decision they probably should’ve made at previous championships when Sjostrom’s large program probably cost her gold medals.
True. But if they had always de-prioritised relays they couldn’t medal in, she likely wouldn’t have the 100 free WR right now.
Sweden often lead the 4×1 relay for the first 125m then it goes down hill.
You could call them the Andrew of 4×1 relays
In all fairness, it doesn’t actually go downhill until the last 100 given Coleman and Louise often drop 53 lows. They were actually still 2nd at the 300 mark in Tokyo (that’s right, beating USA and Canada), but then had a 54.9 final leg from Sophie and faded to 6th…
If Sweden could snag just one of our 59 low or better female backstrokers, they could be challenging for gold in the 4×100 medley by Paris. Someone like Olivia Smoliga who can swim back and free would be particularly valuable to them. If I were head of the Swedish Olympic Committee I’d be looking into how much dosh I could throw into the possibility of some Smoliga-Hansson-Hansson-Sjöstrom relays by Paris.
That’s not enough to challenge AUSTRALIA-USA-CANADA-CHINA
It’s certainly enough to beat Canada and China in a 4×1 medley. Smogs wouldn’t be more than a second away from Masse, and Sophie splits 2secs faster than Pickrem, which means MacNeil and Oleksiak would need to gain 1sec off Louise and Sarah…
And theyd definitely have a shot in freestyle, they were 2nd with a 100 to go in Tokyo.
They were second at the 300 because they put their slowest swimmer, a 54.9, in last and most countries put their fastest last. If they put her first and Sjostrom last, Sweden would have been 8th at the 300.
Sweden won gold when Hanson switched to back at the SC world’s, followed by sister Hanson on breast, which opened up fly for Sarah and free for Coleman. SC a different beast of course, but food for thought.
Smoliga is American of Polish descent, no reason why she could or would swim for Sweden.
If Qatar and Kazakhstan can buy athletes to compete under their flags why not Sweden? Australia really should go shopping for some sprint breaststrokers.
lol I was just about to make the same, “but she’s not swedish, just blonde?” comment.
Money, medals, and a Swedish passport sound like pretty good reasons to me. 🤷🏻♂️
A lot of entries in the mixed relays.
This makes sense to me. The public loves a mixed event, and swimming is one of those sports that has literally never had any kind of mixed event until very recently (cf tennis where mixed doubles has been around for the better part of a century). For a non-swimming nation, making a mixed relay final could be a good news item even if they have no chance to medal.