World Championships Day Four (Mixed Medley Relay): Defending Champion China Out, Netherlands DQd; Big Three to Battle
With defending world champions China failing to qualify for the final and the Netherlands disqualified – it leaves three previous winners, Olympic champions and world record holders Great Britain (2015), two-time winners and championship record holders USA (2017 and 2022) and Australia (2019) to fight it out for the 2024 Mixed Medley Relay honours on night four of the World Aquatic Championships in Doha.
And it will come down to who has the best reserves who sat out today’s preliminary heats with Adam Peaty (GBR), Shayna Jack and Brianna Throssell (AUS) and Hunter Armstrong and Claire Curzan (USA) just some of the likely inclusions in a relay that never disappoints.
The Brits topped today’s preliminaries in 3:45.50 and they can certainly count on experienced anchor Anna Hopkin who brought the team home in 52.73 this morning but expect Australia’s Jack to be right there with her, with the Aussies winning their heat in 3:45.54, the US next in 3:45.93.
China were 11th, with their stars sitting in the grandstand, while Canada were ninth- missing the final by just 0.34 -the final spot going to Italy.