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JockCartier · July 21, 2024

On 7/20/2024 at 7:40 PM, Topicmaster1010 said:

Relay Power Rankings: Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay

Other Power Rankings:

Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay

Men's 4x100m Medley Relay

Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay

In today's power rankings, we take a closer look at how the women's 4x100m freestyle relay is shaping up. Based on the times by most swimmers, you will notice that the depth of the women's 100m freestyle is significantly lower than that of the men's 100m freestyle. It's for that reason that I've decided to keep the comments to a minimum for most of the countries.

Remember, for each country, I'm taking the top 4 eligible swimmers for each country and using their best times from 2024 to form a estimated relay time. 1.5 seconds will be subtracted from each cumulative time to account for reaction times.

*Please note that the order of swimmers is arranged from fastest to slowest times, NOT by predicted relay order.

**Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to keep the summaries for each country shorter from here on out. This took more time than I expected.

16. Slovenia - 3:43.33

Neza Klancar - 53.96

Janja Segel - 55.08

Tjasa Pintar - 56.88

Katja Fain - 58.91

Klancar should help give Slovenia a good start. Fain's best time is only 58.91 but she split 55.94 on the relay at 2024 World Championships so she could help knock down a couple seconds on the projected time. However, it wouldn't help move Slovenia up the power rankings.

15. Ireland - 3:40.35

Grace Davison - 55.09

Danielle Hill - 55.17

Victoria Catterson - 55.44

Erin Riordan - 56.15

14. Hong Kong - 3:38.71

Siobhan Haughey - 52.55

Hoi Lam Tam - 55.01

Camille Cheng - 55.48

Natalie Kan - 57.17

One of these things is not like the others .

13. Denmark - 3:38.26

Signe Bro - 54.48

Elisabeth Ebbesen - 54.73

Julie Jensen - 55.15

Martine Damborg - 55.40

Unfortunately, with the retirement of Pernille Blume and the decline of Signe Bro, Denmark likely won't be making the final like they did in Tokyo.

12. Poland - 3:37.64

Kornelia Fiedkiewicz - 54.01

Kasia Wasick - 54.12

Zuzanna Famulok - 54.83

Julia Maik - 56.18

If you remember from the 2024 World Championships, Poland was actually leading the relay after 3 legs. They have two good swimmers but the depth falls off after that.

11. Brazil - 3:37.25

Stephanie Balduccini - 54.05

Ana Vieira - 54.45

Maria Costa - 54.99

Giovana Medeiros - 55.26

10. Hungary - 3:36.68

Nikolett Padar - 54.17

Minna Abraham - 54.28

Petra Senanszky - 54.79

Panna Ugrai - 54.94

This is a young Hungarian relay that's made good strides this year. Their top 2 swimmers are still only 18 and have the ability to drop more time on their PBs that they've set this year.

9. Great Britain - 3:35.74

Anna Hopkin - 53.09

Eva Okaro - 54.46

Freya Anderson - 54.59

Freya Colbert - 55.10

Very shockingly, Great Britain finds itself in 9th place in these rankings. Anna Hopkin has looked great this year but the rest of the relay remains a question mark. If we look at their quartet that finished 4th at the 2023 World Championships, both Lucy Hope and Abbie Wood finished outside the top 4 at British Trials and Freya Anderson was well off her best finishing with a time of 54.59. If she's recovered from the glandular fever than was impacting her, that'll be a big boost for this relay.

8. Italy - 3:35.46

Sofia Morini - 53.92

Chiara Tarantino - 54.05

Sara Curtis - 54.22

Emma Menicucci - 54.77

This is another relay trending in the right direction with the top 3 swimmers all setting PBs this year and Meniccuci just 0.05 seconds off hers. Both Morini and Tarantino rank in the top 40 performers this year.

7. Sweden - 3:34.78

Sarah Sjoestroem - 52.57

Michelle Coleman - 53.63

Louise Hansson - 55.00

Sofia Aastedt - 55.08

The order of names you see above will likely be the order that Sweden uses in their relay. The story has always been the same for them: Let Sarah Sjoestroem get them out to a fast start and try to hang on. Unfortunately, that's never worked for them at a major long course meet. Will this finally be the year?

6. Netherlands - 3:34.68

Marrit Steenbergen - 52.26

Sam van Nunen - 54.49

Tessa Giele - 54.71

Kim Busch - 54.72

Thanks to the world leading time by Marrit Steenbergen, the Dutch relay finds itself 6th. Steenbergen will likely be able to close down a couple of swimmers on the anchor leg. Kira Toussaint is also another option for this relay considering she split 53.81 on their gold medal winning relay at 2024 World Championships. She could replace someone like Tessa Giele who will have to swim the 100m butterfly on the same day.

5. France - 3:34.07

Marie Wattel - 53.61

Beryl Gastaldello - 53.71

Mary-Ambre Moluh - 54.08

Charlotte Bonnet - 54.17

This is a solid relay that France possesses. Both Wattel and Gastaldello have gone under the Olympic qualification time in the qualification period and Moluh is only 18 years old coming off of a PB at French Trials. Now they just need Charlotte Bonnet to try to regain some of her old form when she set the french record in this event.

4. Canada - 3:33.78

Penny Oleksiak - 53.66

Mary-Sophie Harvey - 53.71

Summer McIntosh - 53.90

Maggie Mac Neil - 54.01

A perennial medalist in this relay just 2 years ago, Canada now finds itself on the outside looking in thanks to injuries to Penny Oleksiak and Taylor Ruck and Kayla Sanchez switching to the Philippines. Despite the improvements in times this year, many questions still remain. Penny Oleksiak is once again the #1 100 freestyler in the country. Can she keep improving her time to the 53 low or 52 range? Mary-Sophie Harvey is somehow entered in the 400m freestyle on the same day as this relay. Will she scratch the event or swim 400m of an event she has no chance of medaling in? Will the Canadian coaches risk using Summer McIntosh after swimming the 400m freestyle final? It didn't work well last year. What kind of form will Taylor Ruck be in? The one that split 53.26 on this relay at 2024 Worlds or the one that finished 4th at Canadian Trials in 54.47. Maggie Mac Neil will have the 100m butterfly on the same day but she's proven over her career that it hasn't been an issue for her at all.

3. China - 3:30.97

Yang Junxuan - 52.68

Wu Qingfeng - 53.25

Zhang Yufei - 53.27

Cheng Yujie - 53.27

There's a massive difference between Canada and China's projected times. China is now looking in good position to win a medal thanks in large part to Yang Junxuan setting a massive PB of 52.68 at Chinese Trials. Wu Qingfeng also set a PB this year after failing to break 54 seconds last year. Zhang Yufei has the 100m butterfly on the same day but she'll likely still swim this relay as their next two best swimmers this year, Li Bingjie and Yu Yiting, also have event conflicts on the same day.

2. United States - 3:30.18

Kate Douglass - 52.56

Torri Huske - 52.90

Simone Manuel - 53.09

Gretchen Walsh - 53.13

Does the US have any chance of beating Australia? Kate Douglass and Torri Huske setting PBs this year certainly helps and Simone Manuel returning to form will be a big boost as well. Gretchen Walsh's freestyle remains an unknown though. She only lead off the relay in 54.06 at the 2023 World Championships and despite breaking the 100m butterfly world record at US trials, she finished 3rd in the 100m freestyle in 53.13. If any of the top 4 are off form, Abbey Weitzeil and Erika Connolly would be the next women up but there's a large time gap between Walsh and their times so it feels like this top 4 is locked in for the final.

1. Australia - 3:28.89

Mollie O'Callaghan - 52.27

Meg Harris - 52.52

Shayna Jack - 52.65

Bronte Campbell - 52.95

Although the projected time is slower than their World Record time, Australia is still the favourite by a good margin. The 100m freestyle at Australian trials was slower than expected but the times were similar last year and they then proceeded to dominate so I'm not too worried. Other potential options for the relay final are Emma McKeon, Brianna Throssell and Olivia Wunsch.

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