Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. World Championships, Day 1 Prelims: After British DQ, U.S., Australia Set to Battle in Men’s 400 Free Relay One hundredth of a second separated the United States and Australia Sunday in the preliminaries of the men’s 400 freestyle relay at the World Aquatic Championships. With pre-meet favorite Great Britain disqualified, that puts the two traditional powers on a collision course. The U.S. got to the wall first, in a head-to-head battle in the final heat at the Marine Messe Hall in Fukuoka, Japan. The Americans timed in at 3:11.63. Despite a charge by Flynn Southam, the Aussies settled for second. Those two times were nine-tenths clear of third-seeded Italy. The splits: The elephant in the room is what happened to Britain, the favorites setting a time of 3:10.47 that appeared to win the second heat of three and set a national record. But a false start meant they will play no part in the final after a disqualification. Italy, swimming in Heat 2, comfortably came home in third in 3:12.53, though only third-leg Lorenzo Zazzeri was under 48 seconds at 47.91. Canada positioned itself well for Josh Liendo to drop the hammer on the anchor with a 47.60 to get into fourth place in 3:13.49. China is fifth in 3:13.54, Pan Zanhle bringing it home in an impressive split of 47.37 seconds. Spain, Brazil and Israel rounded out the final. Spain was sixth in 3:13.77, clipping .04 off the national record. Cesar Castro Valle anchored the Spanish relay with a split of 47.94. Brazil got a sub-48 leg from Gui Carbie (47.84) to get seventh. Israel clubbed more than a second off their national record with Denis Loktev, Tomer Frankel, Ron Polonsky and Gal Groumi. That time edged Germany by .01 seconds to the final finals spot.
