The Australian foursome of Madi Wilson, Kiah Melverton, Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus walked away with the gold medal in the women’s 4×200 free relay, setting a new world record of 7:39.29. They finished 12.69 seconds ahead of the Canadians, who took the silver medal. They are the first team to break the 7:40 barrier and break the 7:40.33 record set by China at the Tokyo Games by more than a second. Summer McIntosh led the way in the first exchange, taking the lead in 1:55.24 to put the Canadians ahead. Australia’s second swimmer, Melverton, caught the Canadians and had moved the Australians about a second and a half ahead by the end of her leg. O’Callaghan extended the lead and Titmus anchored in 1:52.82, the fastest split ever.
Split Comparison – Australia at the Commonwealth Games vs China at the Tokyo Olympics
Australia – 2022 Commonwealth Games Split China – 2020 Tokyo Olympics Split Mandy Wilson 1:56.27 Yang Junxuan 1:54.37 Kiah Melverton 1:55.40 Tang Muhan 1:55.00 Mollie O’Callaghan 1:25. Bindze 1:55.30 The Australians were 1.44 seconds off the World Record pace when Titmus entered. But in the 100, he was just 0.38 seconds behind and was right on the line in the final turn. Her split of 1:52.82 is the fastest ever by a significant margin and she is the only one to break 1:53. Top 5 All-Time Women’s 4×200 Free Relay: Titmus’ split is a crucial difference here for the Australian team. They tend to lead with her as they did in Tokyo, where she split 1:54.51, well off the 1:53.50 that took gold in the individual event. Another big difference is the addition of Mollie O’Callaghan. O’Callaghan led the Tokyo qualifying relay in 1:55.11, a world junior record, but the coaches made the decision to leave her out of the finals relay. This decision cost them, as they could have used her as a guide and had Titmus anchor, or given her a rolling start. They ended up with the Olympic bronze, disappointed by the Americans. The Australians have a lot of depth in the 200 freestyle, and had world record potential for a while, and finally managed to put all the pieces together in Birmingham. Earlier in the meet, they swept the women’s 200 free podium, a harbinger of what was to come here.
