3 months ago
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Singapore: Australia have bombed out in the heats of the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay at the world swimming championships.
In a major shock, the 2023 world champions finished 11th overall in the heats – missing the final and leaving coaches stunned poolside.
The Dolphins were widely tipped to make the podium, if not win the event, having claimed gold in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle relays on night one of competition.
It also means Mollie O’Callaghan remains stuck on 11 career world championship gold medals – tied with Ian Thorpe for the most by an Australian – and will have to wait for another chance to surpass him.
Australia’s heat team of Kai Taylor, Max Giuliani, Hannah Casey and Milla Jansen, with plans to bring in O’Callaghan and Kyle Chalmers for tonight’s final.
But the quartet couldn’t generate enough momentum in their morning swim, clocking 3:25.15 to finish outside the top eight.
Australia prepares to race in the heats of the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay. Credit: AP
Canada claimed the last spot in the final in a time of 3:24.94.
It was a sobering result for the Dolphins, who are the world record holders in the event after winning gold at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka in a time of 3:18.83. Australia also won a world title in 2022.
The race is not swum at the Olympics.
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The United States (3:21.48), France (3:24.21) and the Netherlands (3:24.31) were the fastest three qualifiers. Great Britain and China also failed to advance.
Australia, like other nations, opted to rest its stars for the heats to conserve energy for the final. But this time, those selected didn’t come close to their personal bests.
Taylor and Giuliani produced outstanding swims as part of the gold medal-winning men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team earlier in the meet and have carried heavy workloads all week.
Giuliani went 47.63 on Sunday in the Sunday’s men’s final but faded to clock 49.00 in the mixed event.
Casey posted a split of 53.86 in the heats of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay but swam 54.23 as the third leg on Saturday.
Jansen clocked a 52.89 Australia’s victorious women’s team but touched the wall in 53.55 in her latest swim.
Australia still have two major gold medal hopes on Saturday evening, with Cam McEvoy (50m freestyle) and Kaylee McKeown (200m backstroke) in action.
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