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 One Finals: Mollie O’Callaghan, Ryan Held to Lead Off For Top-Seeded 400 Free Relays The first finals session of the World Championships will conclude with the women’s and men’s 400 freestyle relays, and the top teams in both events will make significant changes entering the evening session. For the heavily-favored Australian women, defending 100 freestyle world champion Mollie O’Callaghan will lead off while defending Olympic champion Emma McKeon will anchor, and the top-seeded American men add Ryan Held to swim the first leg. The Australian big names will join a pair of returnees from the morning session, Shayna Jack and Meg Harris, both members of last year’s world-title winning squad. Jack will not race the individual 100 free in Fukuoka, but she swam a time of 52.28 leading off the prelims relay for the top time in the world this year in the event, two tenths quicker than O’Callaghan’s previous No. 1 mark of 52.48. The Americans will be favored to win the silver medal here, with Gretchen Walsh set to lead off the event after not racing in the prelims and Kate Douglass coming in to anchor. Both swimmers have other races in the session, with Walsh in the 100 fly semifinals and Douglass in the 200 IM semis. They join the returning Abbey Weitzeil and Olivia Smoliga from prelims after both split 52s in the morning. The Netherlands will anchor with Marrit Steenbergen, who split 52.13 in the morning, while China adds the versatile Zhang Yufei on the anchor leg after Cheng Yujie, Yang Junxuan and Wu Qingfeng. The list of stars leading off for their country include Canada’s Summer McIntosh and Swedish world-record holder Sarah Sjostrom in the 100 free. Rikako Ikee will lead off for Japan. On the men’s side, the Americans will go with Held, Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano and Matt King, while the second-seeded Australia adds superstar Kyle Chalmers to swim the anchor leg after Jack Cartwright, Flynn Southam and Kai Taylor. Canada will move Josh Liendo to the leadoff leg after he anchored in prelims. Italy, the bronze-medal team in this event last year, will bring in 100 backstroke world-record holder Thomas Ceccon to swim the anchor leg behind Alessandro Miressi, Lorenzo Zazzeri and Manuel Frigo. That’s the exact team that made the podium last year, albeit in a different order. Finally, the No. 1 swimmer in the world in the 100 free, China’s Pan Zhanle, will lead off for his team. Notably, Great Britain likely would have been the favorite in the men’s race, but Jacob Whittle false-started in prelims to eliminate the Brits from contention in this event.
