By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
World Aquatics released its updated competition regulations last month, and one notable change relates to mixed relays.
Lead-off legs from mixed relays are now eligible to break world records and World Junior Records, which was previously not the case.
Although the rules don’t flat-out say that mixed relay lead-offs are record eligible, they don’t distinguish the fact that they’re not, which was done previously.
World Aquatics 2026 Competition Regulations – 12.3.4
An Athlete competing in a relay race is not eligible to set an individual World Record or World Junior Record, except for the Athlete who swims the first quarter of the total race distance in a relay. If the Athlete themselves is not disqualified but the relay team of that Athlete is disqualified for any reason that occurs or is identified after completion of the Athlete’s performance, the Athlete’s performance will be eligible for a World Record or World Junior Record.
Previously, the regulations specified that any lead-off leg from a mixed relay was ineligible to break records.
World Aquatics 2025 Competition Regulations – 12.12
The first swimmer in a relay, except in mixed relays, may apply for a World Record or a World Junior Record. Should the first swimmer in a relay team complete his/her distance in record time in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, his/her performance shall not be nullified by any subsequent disqualification of his/her relay team for violations occurring after his/her distance has been completed.
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Although a swimmer has never gone under the existing world record leading off a mixed relay, a few men have come close.
At the 2025 World Championships, Russia’s Miron Lifintsev clocked 51.78 on the opening leg of the team’s mixed 400 medley relay, marking the second-fastest 100 backstroke performance in history, only trailing Thomas Ceccon‘s world record of 51.60.
Six years prior at the 2019 World Championships, fellow Russian Evgeny Rylov put up a time of 51.97 leading off the mixed medley relay, which at the time was faster than the existing European Record and marked the sixth-fastest swim ever.
At the 2015 edition in Kazan, when the mixed medley relays made their World Championship debut, Ryan Murphy led off the American mixed medley relay in the prelims in a time of 52.18. That swim was under the existing World Championship Record of 52.19, set by Aaron Peirsol in 2009, and marked the fifth-fastest performance ever, but it was not recognized as a new CR.
The most notable lead-off leg we’ve seen from the mixed 400 free relay—which was recently removed from the World Championship schedule—was probably Jack Alexy‘s 46.91 that set the table for the U.S. team to win gold and set a new world record at the 2025 World Championships. The swim is tied for the ninth-fastest performance ever.
It’s much more common for teams to put two men on the front-end of their mixed relays—it’s always the case in the mixed free relay, and is usually the route teams take in the medley, unless they have a star female backstroker or breaststroker.
Because of that, we haven’t seen as many notable female lead-offs in mixed events. The fastest women’s 100 back lead-off time from a mixed relay was the 57.64 Regan Smith produced for the American team in the prelims at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, which was the fifth-fastest performance ever at the time.
Although mixed relay lead-offs are eligible for World Aquatics records, whether or not they’ll be eligible for other marks will be up to the individual governing bodies, such as European Aquatics for European Records and USA Swimming for American Records.
Some of the other notable changes made in World Aquatics competition regulations include adding lap counters and bell laps for the 400 free, and dropping the mixed 400 free relay from the World Championships.
Swimmers can also now be fully submerged at the finish in freestyle and butterfly, and the time cut-off was reduced to 10 minutes per 5km in open water events.
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