Photo Courtesy: Kristin Karkoska
LAUSANNE – After a successful short course world championship debut last month in Qatar, mixed relays will now be part of this year’s long course world championships in Russia.
The official schedule for the meet lists mixed relays in only two events: 4×100 medley and 4×100 freestyle. The 400 medley relay will be swum on fourth day of the meet, August 5, while the 4×100 freestyle will be contested on August 8, the seventh day.
A mixed relay consists of two men and two women. FINA, the world’s governing body for aquatic sports, officially recognized mixed relays for world record and ranking purposes in fall 2013, though the European championships had featured such events for a few years before that and Masters swimming had made it popular for decades. Several teams around the world took to the pool to be the first to set world records in the mixed relays. At the short course worlds last month, Brazil won the 4×50 mixed medley relay while the United States took gold in the 4×50 freestyle relay.
Does it make any difference or perhaps I should say are the teams’ order up to each country or must a particular sex lead off and then have a person of opposite sex swim next, etc.
And if lineup left up to each individual nation does it make any difference in how lineup structured, i.e., is it more advantageous to have a man on end or…
Just thinking: @. Beijing for example had there been a 400 mixed medley perhaps we could have Natalie lead off, followed say by Brendan Hansen, then possibly that flyer from Western Kentucky (Claire Donahue) and,,,Phelps anchor?
Or Peirsol, Soni, Phelps and Natalie (Dara T.)?
Would have been interesting.
At Kazan maybe Grevers leads off, Breeja goes next, Tom Shields swims fly leg and…Ledecky on anchor?
In masters, you can swim in any order that you want.