2025 World Championships Day 1: Relay Speculation ...Middle East

By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam

2025 World Championships

The first prelims session of swimming at the 2025 World Championships is in the books, and with the finals of the 4×100 freestyle relay tonight, some teams will have some interesting decisions to make regarding their lineups.

USA – 3:33.57

The U.S will bring Torri Huske (52.43 SB) and Gretchen Walsh (52.78 SB) onto the relay this evening, with it looking like Erin Gemmell and Anna Moesch (53.80) will be swapped off. Gemmell was 53.52 on the leadoff this morning, but with four 52-point swimmers they will likely go with their strongest team.

Simone Manuel shut it down on the anchor leg this morning in 54.21, but was 52.83 last month. Kate Douglass had a massive split of 52.04 on the second leg and will be a key contributor again tonight. She has a best-ever split of 51.79 from 2022, so looks in top form already in Singapore

With Torri Huske scratching the 100 fly prelims, we do not know what kind of form she will be in. She was 52.29 last summer and 52.43 at U.S. Nationals, but may struggle to replicate those swims. Team USA have stated that she scratched out to rest up for the relay though, so it could be that she isn’t far off.

Australia – 3:34.64

Australia’s choice is slightly more difficult. Mollie O’Callaghan and Meg Harris are locks to come into the team, but there will have to be a decision made on which two out of Olivia Wunsch, Milla Jansen and Alexandria Perkins joins them.

Wunsch was 53.70 leading off this morning with Jansen anchoring in 53.10, while Perkins will have the 100 fly semifinals but did swim a best of 53.53 earlier this year.

Abbey Webb (53.98) and Hannah Casey (53.86) will be the swimmers definitely coming off, and it could be Perkins who misses out if they decide that Jansen’s 53.10 is too solid a split to gamble with.

Netherlands – 3:35.47

The Netherlands will run it back this evening after placing third in the heats. Milou van Wijk led off in 54.09, nearly a second off her best of 53.18, so they have time to drop there, and Femke Spiering (54.65) and Sam van Nunen (54.36) could drop down into the 53s, although both are more distance-oriented.

Marrit Steenbergen is their ace in the hole, and was 52.37 on the anchor this morning for the second-fastest split in the field. She has split sub-53 before, but will need the middle legs to keep her within touch if they stand a chance at a podium. Van Wijk’s leadoff could be the most important leg.

China – 3:35.63

China went with Yujie Cheng (53.60), Yaxin Liu (53.92), Wenwen Yang (54.20) and Qingfeng Wu (53.91) this morning, and will likely swap out Yang for Zhange Yufei.She holds a best time of 52.90 but hasn’t quite looked as sharp as she did last year where she split 52.75.

No Yang Junxuan will hurt their medal chances this year, but they should still be the main favorite to take bronze. They would need to find at least four seconds to realistically challenge for silver, but are more likely to be in the 3:33-low/3:32-high range.

France – 3:35.76

Beryl Gastaldello (54.10), Marina Jehl (54.27) Albane Cachot (53.91) and Marie Wattel (53.48) were the team this morning, as they finished just behind China in their heat.

Mary Ambre Moluh is the swimmer who could slot onto this relay, likely instead of Jehl,  and she split 53.37 in the Olympic final last summer.

Unlike last year Charlotte Bonnet, the National Record holder, is not on the team. Beryl Gastaldello and Marie Wattel may have to do a lot of the heavy lifting if they want to stay within touch of China.

NAB – 3:35.95

Neutral Atheltes B went with Daria Trofimova (53.73), Aleksandra Kuznetsova (54.01), Daria Surushkina (54.43) and Daria Klepikova (53.78) this morning, but could bring Arina Surkova onto the team who holds a best of 54.02.

Klepikova will have the 100 fly semi-finals as well tonight, but with a best of 53.48 should be faster on the anchor leg. Trofimova was right on her PB of 53.75, but it may take a big swim from one of the middle legs if they were to put themselves in contention.

Italy – 3:36.67

Sara Curtis was out like a rocket on the opening 50 this morning, but faded down the stretch to touch in 53.59, half a second off her PB. She was joined by Chiara Tarantino (54.59), Sofia Morini (54.36) and Emma Menicucci (54.13) this morning, which should be teh team they run with again tonight.

All three of those legs have been in the 53s before on this relay, so improvement may come by committee. If Curtis can be 53-low or better on the leadoff they could be in line to drop 2-3 seconds, but will likely be outside the medal fight even so. They were 8th in Paris with only a single 53-point split, but Curtis is already much faster than the 54.24 she split last year.

Hungary – 3:37.04

Another team that will keep their swimmers the same, Hungary will hope for a quicker leadoff from Nikolett Padar than the 55.12 she swam this morning, but they did get a big split of 53.60 from Petra Senanszky on the third leg. Minna Abraham was 53.46 on the anchor, as they touched half a second ahead of Canada’s time for the final spot in the top eight.

Padar has been 54.17 so could drop around a second, and Panna Ugrai has some time to give from the 54.86 she swam going second as she has a flat start best of 54.94. Their back half probably does not have too much more to give though.

Men’s 4×100 Free Relay

USA – 3:11.17

The U.S were the only team to get all three flying splits under 48 seconds this morning, and should bring Jack Alexy and Chris Giuliano into the team. Alexy will be a big upgrade over the 48.58 that Shaine Casas led off in, but with the other three legs all between 47.48 and 47.60 it looks like a tough decision about who else to sub off.

Destin Lasco was the slowest leg this morning in 47.60 but owns a flat start best of 47.58. It may well be Jonny Kulow purely based on finishing position at U.S. Nationals, although he split 47.4 at the Pan American Games in 2023 and has been a big time relay contributor for Arizona State in the NCAA.

Sammon and Alexy should be locks. Lasco and Kulow are up in the air. One of them will be on the team, but it’s almost too close to say which.

Australia – 3:11.29

Australia had the top four finishers from their Trials on the relay this morning, implying that they’ll run it back with the same team tonight. Kyle Chalmers will be faster than 47.54 on the anchor but they got a big 47.55 from Kai Taylor this morning.

Flynn Sooutham was 48.12 leading off and will return in that position, and has some time to drop with a 47.69 PB, while Max Giuliani had a solid 48.08 split. They can shave around a second off purely from Chalmers, but the rest of the team may end up being a wash.

Italy – 3:12.02

Italy got a fantastic 47.96 leadoff from Carlos D’Ambrosio which was followed by Lorenz Zazzeri in 47.63, but their back half of Leonardo Deplano (48.29) and Manuel Frigo (48.14) are in danger. Thomas Ceccon will come into the relay tonight and has a best of 47.71, and has been a key contributor to this relay.

Deplano is most likely to go, with Frigo splitting 47.0 last summer, but both him and Zazzeri will need to drop some time if Italy want to stay ahead of China.

China – 3:12.26

China will bring back at least three-quarters of the relay, although with a change in order to put Pan Zhanle first and Haoyu Wang on the anchor. Zhanh ZHanshuo is a potential leg to join, but will have the 400 free final earleir tongith. Ji Xinjie could also slot in, but it’s probably a wash between either of them and Wudi Liu for the fourth spot.

Pan can be much faster than his 47.73 anchor, as can Chen Juner if he switches from leadoff to a flying leg. They will be in a battle with Italy for the bronze.

Canada – 3:12.64

Josh Liendo had the fastest split in the field as he was 47.26 on the second leg, but none of their other swims broke the 48-second barrier.

They may bring Ilya Kharun onto the finals relay, but the safest bet is that the four swimmers return from this morning. Finlay Knox is another swimmer who could come in, with Antoine Sauve or Filip Senc-Samardzic the most likely to go if either of those two do swap in.

Great Britain – 3:12.69

Great Britain were 6th this morning but were locked in a tight battle throughout, only making it through by 0.18 seconds. They will likely bring in just one swimmer, National Record-holder Matt Richards, with Tom Dean potentially in line to be switched out after anchoring in 48.68 this morning. 

Jacob Mills was 48.34 on the leadoff, his third fastest swim ever. He should be safely onto tonight’s team along with Duncan Scott, but Jacob Whittle has not been at his best in finals recently, only splitting 48.43 last year in Paris. Tom Dean may be picked for the ceiling he brings, even if he didn’t look in great form this morning.

Hungary – 3:12.71

Hungary had the fastest front half this morning thanks to Nandor Nemeth (47.87) and Hubert Kos (47.71), but were 48.5 on the next two legs from Daniel Meszaros and Adam Jaszo. They may struggle to drop time, although Sebastien Szabo should come into the lineup having split 47.2 before. He missed the 50 fly semifinals however, so may not quite be in that form.

Lithuania – 3:12.74

Lithuania set a massive new National Record this morning to beat out NAB and Germany and will bring back the same four men. Tomas Navikonis (47.47) and Tomas Lukminas (47.83) had big splits this moring, but any improvement will need to come from Danas Rapsys after he was 48.84 on the anchor this morning

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