World Championships, Day Six Men’s Finals: Australia And USA Dead-Heat For Gold In 4×100 Medley Relay; Lower 2009 WR
Australia and the United States dead-heated for gold as they consigned to history the 4x100m medley relay world record that had stood since 2009 in 3:18.98 at the World Championships in Melbourne.
Italy led at the final turn ahead of the USA and Australia but Kieran Smith clawed his way back to overhaul Alessandro Miressi while Kyle Chalmers’ final split of 44.63 was the fastest in history.
Australia and the USA took 0.18 off the previous WR of 3:19.16 held by Russia since the supersuit era with Italy’s time of 3:19.06 a European mark.
Ryan Murphy – who had earlier won the 200 to claim the backstroke clean sweep – went out aggressively in 48.96 and handed over with a 0.50sec lead over Isaac Cooper with Lorenzo Mora of Italy 0.02 behind the Australians.
Nic Fink – winner of the individual 100 breaststroke – extended the lead over the first 25 of the breaststroke to a body-length over Olympic bronze medallist Nicolo Martinenghi.
At the halfway point the USA held a 1.16sec lead over Italy and were 2.17secs ahead of Australia.
However, Matteo Rivolta and Matt Temple both made up significant ground on the fly leg with 48.50 and 48.34 splits respectively with Trenton Julian handing over to Smith 0.5secs ahead of Italy with Australia still 1.32 adrift.
Miressi surged past the American and it appeared that Italy would defend the title they won in Abu Dhabi but that was without reckoning on Chalmers who unleashed a final 25 of 11.76 and Smith 12.04 while the Italian went 12.37 as the USA and Australia came past him.
Chalmers split 9.86/21.22 (11.36)/32.87 (11.65)/44.63 (11.76).
Splits
Australia:
Cooper: 49.46
Yong: 56.55
Temple: 48.34
Chalmers: 44.63
United States:
Murphy: 48.96
Fink: 54.88
Julian: 49.19
Smith: 45.95
Chalmers said:
“It was an amazing finish and to come away with a victory and a world record…
“It was great to be swimming with these three guys who were absolutely amazing tonight
“It was sensational in front of this crowd.”
Murphy said:
“My goal coming in was to add as many medals to Team USA as possible.
“We did that tonight – and we added a world record too.
“Swimming is a sport where you get so few opportunities to race, and I really want to take advantage of every opportunity.
“One of my goals has been to add opportunities for racing for all the athletes and it was important for me to come and I am reality happy with how it turned out.”
The four-time Olympic champion was named Male Swimmer of the World Championships after sweeping the back events among a haul of five golds and one silver.
He said:
“It’s really cool to be selected as the Swimmer of the Meet
“It’s a confusing sport and you never really know how you are going to perform.
“I always try to put my head down and hope for the best.”
The USA finished top of the table with 17 gold, 13 silver and six medals for a medal haul of 36.
Beata Nelson, however, was a notable absentee, not selected to the team despite winning the overall women’s title at the World Cup tour.
Murphy observed:
“We started a little bit slow but our consistency across all teams I have been on is that we are tough and we look for a little bit of success and we build on that momentum.
“Throughout the meet we found our successes and created the momentum
“I think Team USA must deal with how we select teams but this is a team that really excels at long course.”
Chalmers didn’t compete in the 200 free despite having the second-fastest entry time with only half an hour between the final and the medley relay,
His decision was more than vindicated and he paid tribute to his teammates, saying:
“It’s so incredible to be a part of team Australia and to be a part of a team that is doing so well in the water is fantastic.
“It’s great to be a part of a team that support each other.”
