Commonwealth Games: Despite Charge of Kyle Chalmers, England Snaps Australia’s Relay Dominance With 400 Medley Win

Commonwealth Games: Despite Charge of Kyle Chalmers, England Snaps Australia’s Relay Dominance With 400 Medley Win

Sweeping the relay events is always a target for Australia at the Commonwealth Games, and as the men’s 400 medley relay was set to begin on Wednesday, the Dolphins were one victory shy of attaining their goal.

England had another plan.

Benefiting from a balanced lineup, England gave anchor Tom Dean the breathing room he needed and the English claimed victory at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre with a time of 3:31.80, which was a mere .08 faster than the 3:31.88 of Australia. Dean was joined by Brodie Williams on the backstroke leg, James Wilby on breaststroke and James Guy on butterfly. The bronze medal was earned by Scotland in 3:35.11.

Although Dean has enjoyed an excellent week, a key for England was to give him a decent margin heading into his anchor duties. Why? Because Australia had Kyle Chalmers on the end of its relay, and Chalmers has repeatedly proven himself as a clutch performer. More, Chalmers defeated Dean when the duo went head-to-head in the 100 freestyle earlier in the competition.

The backstroke leg was basically a wash as Williams (54.02) barely outsplit Australia’s Bradley Woodward (54.07). On breaststroke, however, England was able to generate some space, thanks to the efforts of Wilby. The biggest surprise gold medalist of Commonwealths, due to his win in the 100 breaststroke that also featured Adam Peaty missing the podium, Wilby split 59.22 for his leg. That effort was considerably faster than the 59.92 of Zac Stubblety-Cook.

On the butterfly leg, Australian Matt Temple covered his two lengths in 51.03, compared with the 51.22 of Guy, whose career has been defined by excellence in relay duty. As a result of Temple’s outing, Australia went into Chalmers’ leg staring at a .56 deficit. Chalmers came through with a split of 46.86, but with Dean going 47.34, the Aussies came up just short.

England’s triumph was its first relay gold at the Commonwealth Games since the 2014 edition, where the English also won the medley relay.

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