World Championships: USA Set The Pace Into Mixed Medley Relay Final Ahead Of The Netherlands And Great Britain
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The USA led the way into the final of the mixed 4x100m medley relay as they look to make amends for Tokyo where they finished outside the medals.
The United States quartet of Ryan Murphy (52.40), Lilly King (1:06.79), Michael Andrew (50.69) and Erika Brown (53.28) won the fourth and final heat in 3:43.16.
That was in stark contrast to the Olympics last year when they paid the price for being the only team not to select a male breaststroker.
Instead, Lydia Jacoby – the individual 100br champion – went up against the likes of Adam Peaty and the team were never in the mix.
The Netherlands were second through in 3:43.48 thanks to silver medallist Arno Kamminga producing the fastest 100 breaststroke split of 58.70.
Britain were without 50% of the team that won the inaugural Olympic title in world-record time with Peaty injured and lead-off Kathleen Dawson undergoing rehab on a back issue.
Medi Harris led the team off before handing over to James Wilby with Jacob Peters and then Anna Hopkin anchoring the quartet to third in 3:43.64.
Australia, China, Japan, Italy and Germany also made it through.