Swimming at the Summer Olympic Games Paris 2024

[Topicmaster1010 4,247]

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.

[dullard 703]

Anyone know why Charlotte Bonnet moved away from freestyle?

 

Unless MSH goes a very big PB she won't be making the 400 free final so she should be fine for the relay. McIntosh has shown she can do this kind of double in the past (see 400 IM/medley relay at Comm Games). Last year she probably just found it hard to bounce back mentally after such a big disappointment in the 400.

 

Wu Qingfeng went multiple 52 mid splits last year so this PB was expected and about what you'd expect.

[Josh 10,654]

5 minutes ago, dullard said:

Anyone know why Charlotte Bonnet moved away from freestyle?

 

Unless MSH goes a very big PB she won't be making the 400 free final so she should be fine for the relay. McIntosh has shown she can do this kind of double in the past (see 400 IM/medley relay at Comm Games). Last year she probably just found it hard to bounce back mentally after such a big disappointment in the 400.

 

Wu Qingfeng went multiple 52 mid splits last year so this PB was expected and about what you'd expect.

She could, but I’m not sure it’ll make much of a difference. I mean she’s on par with the other four swimmers probably, and with her packed schedule it’d probably be best to save her for her other events. Not to mention the 4x100m freestyle is Canada’s least likely women’s relay medal.

[JockCartier 124]

9 hours ago, 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.

Canada is so close... yet so far 

[Orangehair43 251]

On 7/17/2024 at 5:14 PM, mpjmcevoy said:

If you look carefully at the relay schedules already up at World Aquatics, you can see some relays heats have already partially been filled in - no doubt to clear the rule about DQ if a relay only swimmer isn't used. In the men's 4 x 100 free, Lo and behold... Joe Litchfield and Jack Macmillen are down (notably down in the women's 4 x 1, Freya Anderon and Okara, no doubt for exactly the same reason). Given James being given the solo event, I think we can safely say they have no faith whatsoever in Litchfield, and if put him in the available relay that is most disposable. I assume GBR are emphasising Mens 4 x 2, Men's Medley, Mixed Medley, Men's 4 x 1, women's 4 x 2, Womens medley, women's 4 x 1 in that order - with high gold hopes in the first, firm medal intent in the next two, and somewhat less the next two, with hardly any hope in the last two.

 

Guy seems to have picked up a bit of Mojo after his move back this year, so the men's medley will be interesting, possibly more so than the mixed, where there is simply no decent female butterfly swimmer, so they are forced back to FMMF. I will bet my granny that Guy swims medley finals, they may try and rest him in freestyle relay heats, and let Dean do the donkey work there.

Starting off with a possible non qualifying baring in mine the depth of the GB team for the first male relay won’t exactly scream good start for the opening day 

Edited July 21 by Orangehair43

[RussB 189]

1 hour ago, Orangehair43 said:

Starting off with a possible non qualifying baring in mine the depth of the GB team for the first male relay won’t exactly scream good start for the opening day 

I think both GB 4x1 free relays will qualify. On the women’s side; Freya improvement and a further drop from Eva should be considered more likely than not; and the 4th leg I doubt will be Colbert, rather Hope who is here purely for the 2 relays. 
 

on the men’s side I think we have to take the relay lineups with a massive pinch of salt. GB should do enough to qualify. 

[Orangehair43 251]

Just now, RussB said:

I think both GB 4x1 free relays will qualify. On the women’s side; Freya improvement and a further drop from Eva should be considered more likely than not; and the 4th leg I doubt will be Colbert, rather Hope who is here purely for the 2 relays. 
 

on the men’s side I think we have to take the relay lineups with a massive pinch of salt. GB should do enough to qualify. 

It would be embarrassing to go to the effort of adapting plans to secure qualification in Doha only to miss out on the final anyway. 

[OlympicsFan 859]

Expected medal table (individual events only) according to the entry times:

Men:

: 4/1/0

: 2/3/4

: 2/2/1

: 2/2/0

: 1/1/1

: 1/1/0

: 1/1/0

: 1/0/0

: 0/2/1

: 0/1/1

: 0/0/2

: 0/0/1

: 0/0/1

: 0/0/1

: 0/0/1

Number of nations: 15

 

Women:

: 6/4/3

: 3/3/5

: 2/2/1

: 1/1/2

: 1/0/1

: 1/0/1

: 0/1/0

: 0/1/0

: 0/1/0

: 0/1/0

: 0/0/1

Number of nations: 11

 

Men + Women:

: 8/7/7

: 5/5/6

: 5/2/2

: 3/2/1

: 2/2/0

: 1/1/1

: 1/1/0

: 1/1/0

: 1/0/1

: 1/0/1

: 0/2/1

: 0/1/1

: 0/1/1

: 0/1/0

: 0/1/0

: 0/1/0

: 0/0/2

: 0/0/1

: 0/0/1

: 0/0/1

: 0/0/1

Number of nations: 21

 

Nations that are expected to win at least one individual medal on both sides:

Edited July 21 by OlympicsFan

[Topicmaster1010 4,247]

Relay Power Rankings: Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay

 

 

Other Power Rankings:

Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay

Men's 4x100m Medley Relay

Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay

Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay

 

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.

 

16.  Lithuania - Undefined

• Danas Rapsys - 1:44.96
• Tomas Navikonis - 1:47.42
• Tomas Lukminas - 1:48.22
• Andrius Sidlauskas/Aleksas Savickas - NA

 

Unfortunately, Lithuania was not granted an extra relay quota and will be forced to use one of their breaststrokers on this relay. Neither Sidlauskas or Savickas have a PB listed on their World Aquatics pages so there's no other choice but to put Lithuania last in these rankings.

 

15.  Switzerland - 7:16.48

• Antonio Djakovic - 1:46.32
• Nils Liess - 1:50.36
• Tiago Behar - 1:50.49
• Roman Mityukov - 1:50.81

 

Both Nils Liess and Roman Mityukov have PBs in the 1:47 low range and could help Switzerland move up these rankings.

 

14.  Greece - 7:11.61

• Dimitrios Markos - 1:46.46
• Konstantinos Englezakis - 1:46.78
• Panagiotis Bolanos - 1:49.36
• Konstantinos Stamou - 1:50.51

 

Both Andreas Vazaios and Dimitrios Negris (who isn't on the Olympic team) have faster times than Stamou this year but Stamou is required to be on a relay and this is the best opportunity for him.

 

13.  Canada - 7:10.26

• Alexander Axon - 1:47.56
• Patrick Hussey - 1:47.78
• Lorne Wigginton - 1:47.93
• Jeremy Bagshaw - 1:48.49

 

By far the weakest Canadian relay although the times are slowly improving. Both Josh Liendo and Finlay Knox have faster times than Bagshaw this year but he's required to be on this relay.

 

12.  Israel - 7:09.62

• Denis Loktev - 1:47.11
• Bar Soloveychik - 1:47.28
• Eitan Ben Shitrit - 1:47.67
• Alexey Glivinskiy - 1:49.06

 

Just like in the 4x100m freestyle relay, the Israeli's have not been able to match their times from last year. Denis Loktev had a time of 1:46.17 last year (that was under the OQT). Tomer Frankel and Gal Groumi were also both 1:46.90 and 1:47.39. They could also find themselves on this relay.

 

11.  Spain - 7:08.53

• Cesar Castro - 1:46.46
• Luis Dominguez - 1:47.02
• Carlos Garach - 1:48.04
• Ferran Julia - 1:48.51

 

Probably won't be good enough to final but all 4 guys have set PBs this year. Definitely brighter days ahead for this relay.

 

10.  France - 7:06.72

• Hadrien Salvan - 1:46.72
• Yann Le Goff - 1:47.05
• Wissam Yebba - 1:47.21
• Roman Fuchs - 1:47.24

 

Pretty disappointing to see France in 10th after they finished 4th at the 2023 World Championships. Salvan, Yebba, and Fuchs have all been in the 1:46 range before. Leon Marchand would give this relay a big boost if he decides to swim it. They might need him if they want to make the final.

 

9.  Brazil - 7:06.63

• Guilherme Costa - 1:46.06
• Murilo Sartori - 1:46.98
• Fernando Scheffer - 1:47.42
• Eduardo de Moraes - 1:47.67

 

Guilherme Costa has looked great in the 200m freestyle this year but it's sad to see Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Fernando Scheffer only be as fast as 1:47.42 this year. He won't be able to defend his medal.

 

8.  Japan - 7:05.08

• Katsuhiro Matsumoto - 1:45.29
• Tatsuya Murasa - 1:46.59
• Konosuke Yanagimoto - 1:46.84
• Hidenari Mano - 1:47.86

 

Katsuhiro Matsumoto is a very good 200m freestyler who's capable of going 1:44 at his best. Hidenari Mano was under the OQT at the Asian Games last year but has been a bit slower this year. Tatsuya Murasa could provide a big boost for this relay as he just went a 1:46.59 PB at a summer competition in Japan.

 

7.  Italy - 7:03.90

• Alessandro Ragaini - 1:45.83
• Filippo Megli - 1:45.91
• Carlos D'Ambrosio - 1:46.78
• Giovanni Caserta - 1:46.88

 

The first relay on this list where all the swimmers are under 1:47. Italy's chances of medaling aren't the greatest but they have two 17 year olds in the relay (Ragaini and D'Ambrosio) that could drop some more time in Paris.

 

6.  Germany - 7:03.76

• Lukas Martens - 1:44.14
• Rafael Miroslaw - 1:45.84
• Timo Sorgius - 1:47.55
• Josha Salchow - 1:47.73

 

Germany has two really strong legs with Martens and Miroslaw but then there's a big gap to their 3rd and 4th swimmers. They'll likely use their two best legs first to try to get among the leaders and hang on for a medal. Martens in particular has looked really impressive this year after recently switching his focus to the middle distances. A 1:43 leadoff would be a massive boost for Germany.

 

5.  China - 7:03.20

• Pan Zhanle - 1:45.68
• Ji Xinjie - 1:45.86
• Zhang Zhanshuo - 1:46.28
• Fei Liwei - 1:46.88

 

Feel like China being in 5th is a bit deceiving. They won the 2024 World Championships and this quartet features 3/4 members of that relay. It feels like Pan Zhanle only being 1:45.68 is pretty slow for him considering that he's the world record holder in the 100m freestyle. His 1:43.90 split on that relay would prove that's the case. At 17 years old, Zhang Zhanshuo also has the ability to drop another chunk of time. Niu Guangsheng is also an option for this relay.

 

4.  South Korea - 7:02.73

• Hwang Sunwoo - 1:44.75
• Kim Woomin - 1:45.68
• Lee Hojoon - 1:46.43
• Kim Yeonghyeon - 1:47.37

 

There are not many things I want more than to see South Korea win a medal in this event. They have 3 excellent legs (including Hwang Sunwoo who's easily in the top 5 200 freestylers in the world). The question will be who swims the 4th leg and can they produce a quick enough leg. Kim Yeonghyeon finished 4th at Korean Trials in 1:47.37 but that's his PB and he's still inexperienced. There's also Yang Jaehoon who has a PB of 1:46.83 leading off gold medal winning relay at the Asian Games but he only finished 6th at Korean Trials.

 

3.  Australia - 7:02.14

• Maximillian Giuliani - 1:45.83
• Kai Taylor - 1:45.89
• Elijah Winnington - 1:45.90
• Thomas Neill - 1:46.02

 

Despite a slow race at Australian Trials, the Australians still find themselves in 3rd place in these rankings thanks to good performances at other competitions from Taylor and Winnington. It could be a struggle for all 4 legs to perform at their best but if they are, then Australia is definitely in the medal conversation. Kyle Chalmers could also appear on this relay as could Flynn Southam and Zac Incerti if they're in good form.

 

2.  United States - 6:59.76

• Luke Hobson - 1:44.89
• Chris Guiliano - 1:45.38
• Kieran Smith - 1:45.39
• Drew Kibler - 1:45.60

 

The likely battle for gold should be between the US and the team ranked above them. Luke Hobson has established himself as a consistent 1:44 200m freestyler, Chris Guiliano has quickly emerged as the one of the best overall freestylers in the world and Kieran Smith and Drew Kibler are both consistent performers. Brooks Curry and Blake Pieroni are also possibilites on this relay.

 

1.  Great Britain - 6:58.31

• Matt Richards - 1:44.69
• Duncan Scott - 1:44.75
• Tom Dean - 1:45.09
• James Guy - 1:45.28

 

If all 4 legs are firing, it's hard to see anyone beating this British Relay. Two guys in the 1:44 range and all guys under 1:45.30 is unreal. All 4 guys are also ranked in the top 9 in the world this year. Jack McMillan and Kieran Bird round out the rest of the relay swimmers but it's unlikely that they'll be used in the final.

 

 

Edited July 21 by Topicmaster1010

[Epic Failure 355]

It's not guaranteed that Bird will be used in the 4x2, given that he's in the individual 400m.

 

Depending on machinations elsewhere, it could be the relay heat that GBR put Joe Litchfield in. Doubtful given the risk vs reward but it's not impossible.

Edited July 21 by Epic Failure