After prelims of the 4×100 medley relay, things were not looking good for Team USA. Lydia Jacoby had recorded a breaststroke split that was nearly two seconds slower than her individual time. In addition, Torri Huske was still “off”—her 57.42 fly split was better than what she recorded on the mixed medley relay, but it wasn’t fast enough split to justify putting her on the finals relay.
With many swimmers being off on the American team, they looked very prone to getting upset by Australia in the relay that they were heavily favored to win headed into the meet. There was fervent discussion surrounding what to do about the finals lineup—ideas such as Kate Douglass and Regan Smith swimming butterfly were thrown around, despite the fact that neither swimmer qualified to race the event individually at Worlds.
Eventually, the Americans opted for the lineup of Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh, and Douglass. Many still questioned whether this lineup would work, as Walsh had been over a second off her best time in the 100 fly final.
However, when the race began, the Americans dominated. 150 meters in, there was no question that a gold medal would be around their necks.
First, Smith had a huge morale-boosting swim, going 57.68 to better her season-best and out-touch Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, who she had taken silver to three times in earlier individual races this meet. She had given the Americans an early lead, and when King jumped in, she made sure that her team would never lose that lead.
King split 1:04.93, which was over a second faster than her individual time of 1:06.02. She posted the fastest breaststroke time in the field by 0.8 seconds and was a full 2.14 seconds faster than Australia’s Abbey Harkin (who went slower than her individual time). So even though Walsh (57.0) and Douglass (52.41) were out-split by Australia’s Emma McKeon (56.44) and Mollie O’Callaghan (52.41) on fly and free respectively, it didn’t matter—the gap on breaststroke was just too much to overcome. In the end, the Americans won by 1.29 seconds.
This year marks the second year in a row that King has stepped up at the end of a difficult meet. At the 2022 Worlds (where she had COVID-19 prior to the start of the meet), she finished off the podium in the 100 breast but then came back to record the fastest breast split in the medley relay. The same thing happened this year, when she was fourth in both the 100 and 200 breast, but then exploded on her one and only relay swim.
In a meet where a good portion of the American female contingent underperformed, the experience and grit of a veteran like King was needed to set them back on track and end things on a good note. Now, all Team USA needs to do is keep the momentum heading into Paris.
Other North America Highlights:
- The American men’s medley relay team of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Dare Rose, and Jack Alexy took gold in a new championship record time of 3:27.20. Meanwhile, the Canadian squad of Javier Acevedo, James Dergousoff, Josh Liendo, and Ruslan Gaziev finished seventh.
- Powered by a surprise 1:06.21 breaststroke leg from Sophie Angus, Canada’s Kylie Masse, Angus, Maggie MacNeil, and Summer McIntosh won their first and only relay medal of these Worlds—a bronze in the women’s medley relay.
- McIntosh won the individual 400 IM in a championship record time of 4:27.11, while American Katie Grimes took silver in a best time of 4:31.41. American Alex Walsh also set a best time of 4:34.46 to finish fourth.
- Americans Hunter Armstrong and Justin Ress went 1-2 in the 50 back, producing the second 1-2 finish for Team USA following the women’s 200 IM.
- Bobby Finke crushed the 1500 free American record by over five seconds, going 14:31.59. However, he finished second to Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui by 0.05 seconds.
- In addition to performing on the medley relay, King also won silver in the 50 breast.
- American Abbey Weitzeil finished fourth in the 50 free with a time of 24.32.
