Russia Sets 200 Medley Relay World Record, USA Downs Decade-Old American Record

Russian 200 medley relay FINA World Short Course Championships

DOHA – While Russia downs a disputed world record in the men’s 200 medley relay at the FINA World Short Course Championships, Team USA downed a 10-year-old American mark.

Men’s 200 medley relay

The Russian foursome of Stanislav Donets (23.73), Sergei Geybel (25.96), Aleksandr Popkov (22.47) and Evgeny Sedov (20.62) started the morning off right with a world record in the men’s 200-meter medley relay. The Russian squad blitzed the second heat with a 1:32.78, a time that FINA has listed as a world record at this point, breaking the 1:33.65 listed as the world record from 2013 by Italy.

Italy set the 1:33.65 during prelims of the 2013 European Short Course Championships in Herning, Denmark in Dec. 2013. During the finals of that same meet, the Russian team of Vitaly Melnikov (23.72), Oleg Kostin (26.18), Nikita Konovalov (21.92) and Vlad Morozov (20.56) posted a 1:32.38 for the win during finals. However, that relay world record was stripped after Melnikov tested positive for EPO.

France’s Ben Stasiulis (23.49), Giacomo Perez-Dortona (25.92), Mehdy Metella (22.45) and Clement Mignon (21.24) took second in prelims with a 1:33.10, while USA’s Matt Grevers (23.37), Brad Craig (26.46), Tom Shields (22.29) and Josh Schneider (21.13) did in fact take down the American record in the event.

Previously, Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker and Garrett Weber-Gale raced to a 1:34.58 back in 2004 in East Meadow for the previous American mark.

Brazil (1:33.48), Great Britain (1:33.87), South Africa (1:34.31), Italy (1:34.43) and Lithuania (1:34.81) also made their way into the championship field.

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Scheduled Events

Men’s 200 medley relay
Women’s 100 free
Men’s 400 IM
Women’s 50 fly
Men’s 50 free
Women’s 100 IM
Men’s 800 free relay
Mixed 200 medley relay
Women’s 800 free slower seeds

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