The Six Most Dominant Relay Legs in Men’s Swimming History

Vladimir Morozov wins the 100 freestyle.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Written By Benny Liang, Swimming World College Intern

Many of us gasp at how ridiculously fast swimmers are going nowadays, many of the barriers that have been broken were once considered insurmountable. As fast as those swims may be, the times swum in relays are even more so. From a mathematicians standpoint, the advantage of being able to time your start means a reaction time significantly lower than what it would be from a flat start. From a swimmers standpoint, a relay is an opportunity to give your best for your teammates, and to go faster than you thought possible. With that being said, here are six of the most dominant relay legs in men’s swimming history.

400 Medley Relay, 2015 D1 NCAA Championships

The focus of this relay will be on California and Texas. California is in lane four in yellow caps, Texas in lane three in black caps.

California leads off their relay with future Olympic Champion and World/Olympic Record-Holder Ryan Murphy in a blistering 44.17. All-American breaststroker Chuck Katis tacks on a 50.12, and the race looks to be all but over. Texas’s Joe Schooling and Jack Conger need to make up over two seconds in the next 200 yards to pull a win.

California freshman Justin Lynch posts a 45.47 on the fly leg, respectable in its own right, but is nonetheless run down by Schooling who splits 43.95. At this point California holds onto the lead by a mere half second with Texas sophomore Conger entering just behind Cal senior Seth Stubblefield. Through his tremendous underwaters, Conger takes the lead at the 25 and doesn’t look back. Texas finished the race in an NCAA record time of 3:01.23.

400 Free Relay, Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Any mention of incredible relay splits would be incomplete without this one. Going into the Beijing Olympics, everyone knew of Michael Phelps‘s goal of winning eight golds in a single Olympic games. This was going to be no easy feat. Along the way, Phelps would have to best the likes of Ryan Lochte, Milorad Cavic, and the French 400 Free relay team.

Teaming up with Phelps, Olympic rookie Garrett Weber-Gale pushed the American team past the French at the halfway mark. This wasn’t to last, however, as Frenchman Frederick Bousquet blasted past American Cullen Jones and handed a body length lead to 100 Free Olympic champion Alain Bernard. It looked like the French had it with 50 meters to go. Bernard’s first 50 was a mind boggling 21.27 to the feet. But as we know, veteran Jason Lezak found another gear in the last meters of the race and touched out the French team to take home gold and let Phelps’s dream of eight golds live another day.

200 Medley Relay, 2016 D1 NCAA Championships

Going into the second day of the 2016 NCAA Championships, everyone thought the medley relay would be another two team race between the Golden Bears and Longhorns. After all, Texas and Cal had just blown out the field by over 3 seconds each in the 400 medley relay the previous night. As the final legs stepped up, it appeared that a Texas Cal 1-2 finish was inevitable.

What went fairly unnoticed was Alabama, sitting within striking distance of the leaders. Alabama sprinter Kristian Gkolomeev took off like a bandit, sneaking on the outside past both California and Texas to give the Crimson Tide the win. Notably in this race, both Gkolomeev and Caeleb Dressel tied for the second fastest 50 free split in history at 18.00.

200 Medley Relay, 2013 Metros

If you’ve been following Division I swimming the past few years, you’ve heard of Jack Conger. He’s one of the keys to Texas’s dominance at the national stage. Conger broke the American Record in the 200 fly at the 2016 NCAA’s, and this race gives us a flash to the past of how he got to that level.

Conger swims the third leg for his team, Good Counsel, and turns a body length deficit into a two body length lead. We can see the underwaters and relay exchange that helped him give Texas the 400 Medley title two years later.

400 Medley Relay, 2016 Rio Olympic Games

The focus of this races will be on Great Britain’s Adam Peaty.

This Olympic cycle, Adam Peaty had established himself as the worlds premiere in long course breaststroke. Peaty broke the 100 breast World Record in 2015 and became the first man to finish the race in under 58 seconds. Since then, no one has been able to contend with Peaty’s speed and endurance. His success with an incredibly high stroke rate has caused some to rethink how breaststroke should be swum.

USA’s Ryan Murphy heads the backstrokers, touching first in an Olympic Record time of 51.85. Peaty is one of the last swimmers to go in, and at the breakout emerges nearly two body-lengths behind USA’s Cody Miller. Over the course of the next 56.59 seconds, Peaty turns over the lead to GB flyer James Guy. Peaty’s split isn’t just historic in that its the first under 58, its also the first under 57 seconds.

200 Free Relay, 2013 D1 NCAA Championships

Vlad Morozov, also known as the Russian Rocket, is known for his lights-out speed more than anything else. Before Caeleb Dressel, Morozov was the guy to watch lead a field of the best swimmers on the country by a body length. This swim is pure speed. The third leg for the USC Trojans, Morozov tears apart the field and swims the first 50 under 18 seconds, something Dressel has yet to do. Morozov’s time of 17.86 is the gold standard of speed, the fastest of the fast.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Mark Schubert

7 years ago

Your are showing your age and I am showing mine .
You missed the 1984 Men’s 800 Free Relay. Bruce Hayes came back on Michael Gross in an epic USA win.

completelyconquered

7 years ago

Reply to Mark Schubert

Klete Keller vs Ian Thorpe was my favorite on the 800 free relay in Athens of 2004.

7 years ago

Reply to Mark Schubert

Michael Gross start largely behind Hayes

Chris Derks

7 years ago

Reply to Mark Schubert

Coach Schubert,

I was scrolling down waiting for the 84 relay to pop up as #1, but disappointed that it was overlooked (likely not even thought of). I was a teammate of Gribble, Vassallo, Richardson, for Charlie Hodgson’s HURR. We were glued to the TV watching that great 84 team.

John

7 years ago

Reply to Mark Schubert

I totally agree with Bruce Hayes leg. Micheal Gross Olympic champion and world record holder made up the deficit on the dive.

Sam Hayhurst

7 years ago

This should have been most dominant NCAA relay legs of all time. This article is all over the place, and makes no sense.

Leander

7 years ago

There is no real theme other than here are some fast relay splits that I — the author — know about. Wanna bet he still gets As in his college classes?

Aunt Kim

7 years ago

The one & only @JasonLezak in the 4×100 Free relay in Beijing in 2008 is THE BEST RELAY LEG EVER. The end. #YouveBeenLezaked

Hans

7 years ago

Horrendous article. Needs alot more research. Many relays in the 60’s-90’s trump all of these shown except for Lezak.

Arthur Winters

7 years ago

I was doing the same thing as Mark S. and the ’84 Olympic 400 medley Relay team. Steve Lundquist swam the Breast in this relay victory. He also won the 100 Breast. Very few people know that he had an injured shoulder and could not do the Backstroke or Freestyle but he could do the Breast without the time suffering to much. I had coached him in GA for about 12 years, and personally think that he could have done any of the 100’s in the relay and they still would have won the relay, but I was not his coach at the Olympics!

Old Coach Art Winters (now in Orlando)