There was a championship record in the Mixed 4 X 100 metre Medley Relay from the team representing Neutral Athletes B. Swimming 3:37.97 they won the race by over 2 seconds. China won the silver medal in 3:39.99. Canada won the bronze medal in 3:40.90. The mixed medley relay presents multiple different strategies and selection options depending on each nation’s individual strengths in the men’s and women’s events. It is always exciting to watch with huge leads quickly gained and lost depending on where the men and women are placed and what strokes. This has been a great addition to the swimming programme and hopefully it continues to do so going forwards.
The United States set a very impressive world record in the Mixed 4 X 100 metre Freestyle Relay. 3:18.48 was just over a second ahead of the team representing Neutral Athletes B who themselves set a European record of 3:19.68. France won the bronze medal in 3:21.35. The mixed relays can bring surprise results with nations having varying degrees of strength in depth and different strategies it produces some very exciting races.
The Men’s 4 X 100 metre Medley Relay is always a very exciting race with strengths and weaknesses spread all over the field making for several lead changes and very close racing. On this occasion the team representing Neutral Athletes B won the gold medal by just over a second in a European and Championship Record of 3:26.93. France won the silver medal in 3:27.96 and the United Sates won the bronze medal in 3:28.62. One notable swim from this relay was from American Jack Alexy swimming the anchor freestyle leg who swam a 21.23 first 50 metres to his feet and finished in 45.95 to win his team the bronze medal. This is one of the fastest relay splits ever and shows he will be a major contender over the next few years both individually and as part of a relay.
Great Britain continued their winning streak in the Men’s 4 X 200 metre Freestyle relay. The British team of Mathew Richards, James Guy, Jack McMillan and Duncan Scott produced very fast swims, especially Scott who swam a 1:43.81 on the anchor leg to secure the gold medal in 6:59.84. China won the silver medal win 7:00.91 with Australia winning the bronze medal in 7:00.98. The United States was Britain's closest challenger for much of the race but just couldn’t hang on to Duncan Scott’s anchor leg split. The British team will be hoping to continue this winning streak over the next few years which they have held since the world championships in 2017 and Budapest.
Leon Marchand backed up his 200-metre individual medley world title earlier in the meet with an impressive swim from lane 1 in the final to win the 400-metre individual medley. He comfortably won the final in 4:04.73, almost 4 seconds clear of second placed Tomoyuki Matsushita in 4:08.32. Ilia Borodin representing Neutral Athletes B won the bronze medal in 4:09.16. With Marchand clearly demonstrating that he is only getting faster and improving as he continues his career, it might not be so impossible that he could break 4 minutes in the 400 individual medley. His current World Record stands at 4:02.50 so it will be a tough ask but it certainly isn’t impossible for this young superstar.
This was Leon Marchand's first race of these World Championships and coming into the semi-finals he was completely fresh and it showed. He proceeded to swim a massive personal best and beat the previous world record in this event of 1:54.00 by over 1.3 seconds which has stood since 2011. His 1:52.69 put him comfortably fastest into the final where he again dominated the race and won the gold medal. His 1:53.68 wasn’t as fast as his new world but still underneath the previous world record held by Ryan Lochte for over a decade. Marchand’s University of Texas teammates completed the podium with American Shaine Casas taking the silver medal in 1:54.30, and Hungarian Hubert Kos taking the bronze in 1:55.34. Marchand will look to continue his dominance in this event and improve the world record even further over the next few years.
The Men’s 200 metre butterfly has been dominated by America since the early 2000s with Michael Phelps consistently winning and improving the world record in this event for over a decade. But in recent years America’s stronghold in this event has been challenged and contended by several swimmers from all over the world. Kristof Milak of Hungary and Leon Marchand from France especially. But in Singapore America was back on top in the Men’s 200 metre butterfly with Luca Urlando winning gold in a very fast 1:51.87. Krystof Chmielewski from Poland comfortably won the silver medal 1.5 seconds ahead of 3rd placed Harrison Turner from Australia. With Marchand and Milak choosing not to swim this event at these championships it gave an opportunity to some lesser-known swimmers to have a chance in the spotlight. Urlando has certainly put himself in contention for the next Olympics with his recent performance leaving a 3-way fight for gold in Los Angeles in 2028.
Frenchman Maxime Grousset backed up his victory in the 50-metre butterfly with victory in the 100-metre butterfly in a very fast time. A European record of 49.62 won him the gold medal. Noe Ponti of Switzerland was just 2 tenths of a second back in 49.83. Canadian Ilya Kharun was in third place in 50.07. The 50 and 100 metre butterfly double from Grousset marks a very impressive performance at these championships and makes him the man to beat in the butterfly events.
The Men's 50 metre Butterfly was won by France's Maxime Grousset, narrowly out touching Noe Ponti of Switzerland. Grousset's 22.48 was just 0.03 seconds faster than the 22.51 set by Ponti. Italian Backstroke superstar and Olympic Gold medallist from Paris was third in 22.67 showing his form and speed in his 2nd stroke which could be an indication of his speed for the backstroke events later in the competition.
Qin Haiyang from China completed a 100 and 200 metre breaststroke double after winning the 200-metre breaststroke with a time of 2:07.41. This was a very close race with the top 4 separated by less than a second. Ippei Watanabe from Japan won the silver medal in 2:07.70 with Caspar Corbeau from the Netherlands finishing in third place in 2:07.73. Qin Haiyang is proving to be the man to beat in the breaststroke events and will likely continue to do so over the next few years.
