COMMUNITY GAMES 2022
- Friday, July 29 – Wednesday, August 3, 2022
- Birmingham, England
- Sandwell Aquatic Centre
- Start times
- Prelims: 10:30 a.m. local / 5:30 a.m. ET
- Finals: 7:00 pm local / 2:00 pm ET
- LCM (50m)
- Know the Central
- Event programming
- List of entries (PDF)
- Live results
FREE 4×200 RELAY COMPLETE RESULTS
The Australian quartet of Madi Wilson, Kiah Melverton, Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus ran away with the gold medal in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay, setting a new world record of 7:39.29. They finished 12.69 seconds ahead of the Canadians, who won the silver medal.
They are the first team to break the 7:40 barrier and beat the 7:40.33 record set by China at the Tokyo Games by more than a second.
Summer McIntosh led the first exchange, leading in 1:55.24 to put the Canadians ahead. Australia’s second-ranked swimmer, Melverton, caught the Canadians and had led the Aussies by about a second and a half by the end of her leg. O’Callaghan extended the lead, and Titmus anchored in 1:52.82, the fastest match ever.
Split comparison: Australia at the Commonwealth Games vs China at the Tokyo Olympics
Australia – Commonwealth Games 2022 Division China – Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Division Madi Wilson 1:56.27 Yang Junxuan 1:54.37 Kiah Melverton 1:55.40 Tang Muhan 1:55.00 Mollie O’Callaghan 1: 54.80 Zhang Yufei 1:55.8661 A:55.52 Titmus. Bingje 1:55.30
The Aussies were 1.44 seconds off the world record pace when Titmus entered. But in the 100, he had pulled back by just .38 seconds, and was right at the line on the final turn.
Her split of 1:52.82 is the fastest ever by a considerable margin, and is the only one to break 1:53.
Top 5 Relay Casts of All Time, Women’s 4×200 Free Relay:
- Ariarne Titmus, Australia – 1:52.82 (2022)
- Federica Pellegrini, Italy – 1:53.45 (2009)
- Sarah Sjostsrom, Sweden – 1:53.64 (2014)
- Katie Ledecky, United States – 1:53.67 (2022)
- Katie Ledecky, United States – 1:53.74 (2016)
The separation of Titmus is a crucial difference here for the Australian team. They tend to advance with her as they did in Tokyo, where she split in 1:54.51, on top of the 1:53.50 that went on to win gold in the individual event.
Another big difference is the addition of Mollie O’Callaghan. O’Callaghan led the Tokyo preliminary relay in 1:55.11, a world junior record, but the coaches made the decision to leave her off the final relay. That decision cost them, as they could have used her as the lead and had Titmus anchored, or given her a good start. They ended up with Olympic bronze, getting beaten by the Americans.
The Aussies have plenty of depth in the 200 freestyle and have had world record potential for some time, and finally managed to put all the pieces together in Birmingham. Before the meet, they swept the podium in the women’s 200 freestyle, a harbinger of things to come here.