2025 World Championships Previews: United States Men Hunting 4×100 Free Relay Win ...Middle East

By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam

2025 World Championships

Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay: By the Numbers:

The men’s 4×100 freestyle relay is frequently one of the most exciting events of the meet. It is the first relay of the championships, and is the first look we will get at a lot of the stars and how they are performing.

In 2023, the whole podium had just over six-tenths separating them, and this year isn’t shaping up to be very different.

The Podium Mainstays

The United States, Italy, and Australia have been setting up shop on the podium since the 2020 Olympics.

In Tokyo in 2021, The United States won in 3:08.97. Italy was 2nd at 3:10.11, just over a tenth ahead of Australia’s 3:10.22.

In 2022, The United States stood atop the podium again, touching in 3:09.34 to beat the Australian team’s silver medal performance of 3:10.80. Italy was 3rd in 3:10.95.

In 2023, Australia won in 3:10.16 with Italy finishing 2nd in 3:10.49 and the United States coming 3rd in 3:10.81.

Australia did not have a men’s 400 free relay at the 2024 World Championships, but Italy (2nd-  3:12.08) and the United States (3rd- 3:12.29) still ended up sharing the podium behind China.

Finally, at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the United States found their way back to the top, stopping the clock in 3:09.28 to beat the Australian’s in 3:10.35 for 2nd and Italy in 3:10.70 for 3rd.

United States

Starting at the top of the podium in Paris, the United States looks very strong to finish at the top again at Worlds this year. They lost two of their finals swimmers from the Games with Caeleb Dressel and Hunter Armstrong both not competing at the 2025 U.S. Nationals, but four American men have been faster than Armstrong’s lifetime best already this year.

Men’s 400 Free Relay USA Paris 2024 (photo: Jack Spitser)

They also have the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 9th, 12th, and 13th fastest 100 freestylers in the World this year, which is to their benefit as well because the top swimmers will not have to swim the event prelims in order to qualify for the final.

Jack Alexy will lead the men’s team, swimming 46.99 in the 100 freestyle prelims at U.S. Nationals, breaking the U.S. Open record and jumped up to the 6th fastest performer of all time, ahead of Australia’s Cameron McEvoy. Alexy did not do exceptionally well on this relay at the Olympics, splitting about a second slower leading off the relay than he did to qualify for the Games. His flying start on the men’s Medley Relay prelims was closer at only about half-a-second back. At the 2024 SC Worlds, however, he was at least half a second on both of his flying starts than he was in the individual, and his leadoff leg was much stronger, coming in three tenths ahead of his individual event.

Patrick Sammon is the other American in the men’s 100 freestyle. He currently sits in 6th in the world this year after having a great NCAA season where he swam two top-20 all-time swims in the 100 free. At the United States Nationals, he dropped a little more than half a second to swim 47.47 for 2nd place.

This is Sammon’s first major international team, so we don’t have a lot of information to pull from when it comes to a double taper, and how his relay performance will be. If we look at his short course performance from this year, though, we can try to extrapolate. He swam a personal best time at the Big 12 championships in the 100 free of 41.39, and his flying start 100 free was a little over a second faster at 40.34. At the NCAA Championships a month later, he dropped more time in the 100, dropping to 41.17, and his relay split was 40.55. I cannot find a recent relay time for him in long course, but if he drops a similar amount, he could be a 46 on the relay.

Chris Guiliano, Destin Lasco, Jonny Kulow, and Shaine Casas make-up the other four finishers from Trials. Guiliano swam the event last summer at the Games, and like Alexy, he struggled on the relay, adding a few tenths from his fastest individual swim of 47.72, coming in at 48.18. At SC Worlds, though, he split 44.99 on the relay, more than half-a-second faster than the 45.51 he swam to finish 4th individually.

Lasco and Casas are both wildcards when it comes to relay splits, as neither one have proven experience swimming this relay long course, but they come in at 9th and 13th respectively off their flat start times. Kulow has been extraordinarily fast on relays, though also not in long course. At this year’s NCAA Championships, he split 39.93 on the 400 freestyle relay, almost a second faster than his individual swim, so he could drop a major swim to help the U.S. men.

Since a majority of the men don’t have recent relay splits, we are kind of flying blind when it comes to guessing an aggregate time, but adding their 100 free times from Trials together gets them to 3:09.53, just off their winning time from last summer. If we are conservative and only take a second off for relay starts, they could drop into the 3:08 range and potentially scare the World Record

Australia

Australia was 2nd at the Olympics, and they only lost one of their relay swimmers, Jack Cartwright, which puts them in good position to challenge the Americans for the title.

Australia Relay (photo: Jack Spitser)

Australian swimming veteran Kyle Chalmers has the 4th fastest time in the world this year at 47.27 which he swam in April. Unlike the Americans, we have an exceptional amount of data when it comes to Chalmers’ ability on relays, but somehow we have no more information than we do for anyone else. At every major meet since at least 2019 where he has competed in the individual 100 freestyle, which is the case this year, he has added on either the 4×100 free or the 4×100 medley and dropped on the other.

In 2019, he swam 47.08 in the 100 free finals. On the 400 free relay, he led off in 47.37 and on the 400 medley he swam 46.60. At the 2021 Olympics, he, again, swam 47.08 in the individual final, and then he split 46.63 on the free relay and 47.54 on the medley. In 2023, he went 47.15 in the final and split 47.25 on the free relay and 46.89 on the medley. Finally, last summer, he went 47.48 in the 100 free before splitting 46.59 on the free relay and 47.79 on the medley. If he is going to drop on the freestyle relay later this week, he could easily be 46, which would significantly help Australia’s chances.

Flynn Southam is also swimming the individual event, having swum 47.69 at Australian Trials to sit in 10th in the world this year. He was a smidge faster than his Trials time at the Games last summer, splitting 48.00 to his 48.11 from Trials.

Kai Taylor is the other returning swimmer from Paris, and he finished 4th at Australian Trials in 48.37. He got significantly faster on the relay last year, dropping from 48.57 at Trials to 47.73 at the Games.

Maximillian Giuliani and Harrison Turner were 3rd and 5th at Trials, and they also made the trip to Singapore. Giuliani swam 48.34 at Trials, just off his lifetime best of 48.21 from July of 2023. He swam the relay for the first time internationally at the 2024 SC Worlds, where he led off in 46.62. On the mixed free relay, he went just under four tenths faster at 46.26 to help the team finish 5th. Turner swam 48.43 to earn a 5th place finish. He did not swim the event last year, but he swam it at the SC Championships in December, where he swam 47.31 to finish 26th. He swam over a second faster on the men’s relay at that meet, splitting 46.20.

Australia also has Cameron McEvoy on the roster, who has a lifetime best of 47.04 from the 2016 Australian Trials. He will likely not make an appearance on the relay, however, since he hasn’t been on it since the 2020 Olympics where he led off in 49.18.

When adding the top four swimmer’s times together, it comes out to 3:11.67, but when adding their relay splits from 2024, they drop to 3:10.35, which puts them more in the race with the United States.

Italy

The Paris bronze medal went to an Italian team that has lost two of their four relay members going into this year’s championships. Alessandro Miressi and Paolo Conte Bonin are both absent, leaving Thomas Ceccon and Manuel Frigo holding down the fort.

World Aquatics ChampionshipsFukuoka (JPN)14-30 JULY 2023

Frigo is one of two Italian men swimming the 100 freestyle next week, and he is coming in as the 24th seed with the 48.34 he swam at in April. Frigo was one of the top swimmers on Italy’s relay at the last Olympics, splitting 47.06 to drop over a second from his lifetime best of 48.25 that he swam at the 2024 World.

Ceccon’s best 100 freestyle time is 47.71, which he swam at the 2020 Olympics. At the Australian Open Championships in April, he went his best time since 2023 of 48.41. He is also a very strong relay swimmer for the Italian’s touching in 47.44 last year.

Carlos D’Ambrosio is the only Italian swimmer who appears on the top 25 list in the World for this year, coming in at 24th with the 48.14 he swam at last year’s Italian Trials and that he matched at the Sette Colli Trophy at the end of June, which was a new lifetime best for him. He is the other Italian athlete in the men’s 100 freestyle, where he is 20th seeded at 48.14, which he swam in April of last year. He has not swam on this relay at a major international meet, but at the SC Worlds, he swam the 200 free and the 800 free relay, touching in 1:43.25 in the 200 free and splitting almost two seconds faster at 1:41.48 on the relay. He already sits at 48-low and only needs to drop about two-tenths to be a 3rd sub-47 swimmer for Italy.

For their final swimmer, they have a few options. Lorenzo Zazzeri and Leonardo Deplano both swam on the prelims edition of this relay in Paris, and both of them are on the Worlds team, swimming the 50 freestyle. Deplano had the faster split in Paris, touching in 48.23, while Zazzeri split 48.88. At the 2024 World Championships, though, Zazzerri swam 47.99 to help the Italians grab the silver ahead of the American relay. If he repeats that performance, he could be the 4th Italian under 48 seconds. Zazzerri also finished 3rd at the Italian Trials, after swimming 48.57 in the prelims while Deplano did not swim the final.

Adding together their times is a little bit more interesting because many of them have gone significantly faster from relay starts which affects aggregate times a lot. Just doing flat start times from this year, they come out to 3:13.51. When you change those times to their fastest relay start since 2024, things become a little more interesting at 1:10.63

On the Outside Looking In

China has been fourth at every championship since 2022 that all three of these teams fielded a relay. They did stand atop the podium for the 2024 World Championships, where Australia didn’t have a relay, coming in a second ahead of the 2nd place Italian team in 3:11.08.

They also have the advantage of having the fastest men’s 100 freestyler ever in World Record Holder Pan Zhanle. They have historically struggled to come up with three other swimmers that can match his speed, though, which led to their 4th place finish in Paris.

Pan is the favorite to win the 100 freestyle, and whichever leg he swims on this relay will be significant for the Chinese. In Paris, he got them out to a comfortable lead by swimming the first 100 in 46.92, the Olympic Record at the time.

Pan Zhanle (photo: Jack Spitser)

He has not been extraordinarily fast this year, coming in at 11th in the world with the 47.77 he swam at the Chinese National Championships, but he didn’t need to be much faster to win Chinese Nationals. He has led off this relay at the last two major meets (2024 World Championships and 2024 Olympics), but he has some incredibly fast relay splits as well, having split 45.92 anchoring China’s medley relay to the gold medal.

After him, China has some strong swimmers with experience that could end up on the podium with the right swim. Wang Haoyu is their highest 100 free seed at 48.11, which he swam in April of last year. He sits at 48.36 this year. At the Olympics, Wang finished 22nd in the event, touching in 48.79. He split well on China’s relay, though, anchoring them in 47.68. He was even faster at the 2024 Worlds when they won gold, anchoring the team in 47.47

They also have their other two relay splits from Paris returning in Ji Xinjie and Chen Juner. Ji was 47.93 in the prelims, which is a very strong split, but he followed that up with a 48.58 in the final. Chen was very consistent, splitting 48.10 in both the prelims and the finals. Chen swam a new personal best 48.00 at the Chinese Nationals in May while Ji was 49.30.

Liu Wudi is another potential 400 free relay swimmer, having swum 48.42 at Chinese Nationals in May, less than a tenth behind Wang. He is a bit of a wildcard when it comes to the relay, having very little international experience. In the 400 free relay at the SC Worlds, he swam 47.07, a little more than a tenth faster than the 47.24 he went in the event prelims. On the medley, however, he swam 47.45 which was a bit slower.

When adding together the fastest flat start times this year, Liu gets included on the relay and their time comes out to 3:12.55. When relay starts are taken into account, however, Ji gets subbed in and they come in at 3:09.32, which is comfortably in medal position, and could even challenge for the title.

The Challengers

Great Britain

Matthew Richards (photo: Jack Spitser)

They are one of the favorites to win the 800 freestyle relay, but their 400 free relay hasn’t been as strong. They currently have the 13th fastest swimmer in the world this year, Matt Richards, who went 47.92 at the British swimming championships in April. Their next best 100 freestyler this year is Jacob Mills at 48.03. They were 5th in Paris, and their whole relay is returning, plus the addition of Mills, but they would need some strong swims if they want to end up on the podium.

Germany

The Germans were 7th at the Paris Olympics last summer, and they have added Kaii Winkler to the roster this year as a relay only athlete. Their fastest swimmer this year has been Josha Salchow at 47.80, which is good for 19th. He will be their only relay swimmer at the meet, but Rafael Miroslaw has also been strong in the event this year at 48.36 and Winkler sits at 48.41. They are strong bets to final, but don’t seem to have the podium star power.

Russia/NAB

It is hard to predict where the Neutral Athlete delegation from Russia will end up since it’s been a few years since they had a strong presence at a Worlds meet, but in 2019, they won the silver medal. Egor Kornev sits in 5th in the world this year at 47.42 from Russian Nationals. He will be joined by Andrei Minakov, who is 26th in 48.16, Vladislav Grinev, who is just behind at 27th in 48.17, and Ivan Girev in 48.42 for 48th. They could challenge for the podium with the right swims as they add together to 3:12.17, but they would likely need two swimmers under 48 seconds.

France

The French delegation also has some strong contenders who are led by Maxime Grousset’s 47.50 for 8th in the world. Grousset has been having an exceptional year in the fly events, and if he can tap into that speed for his 100 free, France could also move up from their 12th place finish at the Games. Rafael Fente Damers is also in the top 25 this year at 48.02 from June. Nans Mazellier is 30th in 48.21 and he is their last athlete in the top 50.

Canada

Canada is coming in as the 6th seed after they finished 6th in Paris last summer. They have had some strong swims this year, but they don’t currently have any athletes in the top 25. Ruslan Gaziev is their highest ranked swimmer at 41st with the 48.37 he swam at Canadian Trials. Antoine Sauve is their only other top 50 athlete at 48.42, also from Canadian Trials. Josh Liendo swam 48.62 and Yuri Kisil was 49.06 at the same meet to be 3rd and 4th in the country this year. They will likely not end up on the podium with a 49 second 100, especially if they don’t have anyone balancing that out with a 47 on the front end, but they could challenge for the final.

The Picks

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to specific times on this relay due to so many athletes swimming it for the first time at these championships, but the only team that we were able to add together to have a faster time than the United States was China, and that was with multiple swimmers going significantly faster than they have been this season, and no relay starts for the United States.

I think it’s the U.S.’s relay to lose at this point based on how fast the American men have been in this event so far this year.

After them, China is making a strong case for 2nd, especially if they can put together their fastest splits when it matters. It is also hard to ignore a potential 45 second split from Pan.

Dark Horse: Hungary– The Hungarian team found their way into the final at the Olympics, ultimately finishing 8th overall, and all four of their athletes have returned. None of their 100 freestylers have been exceptionally fast this year, and they don’t currently have any swimmers in the top 50, but they had a great performance to make it into the final last year, and if any of these teams falter in prelims, Hungary is waiting.

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