Australia has been the unstoppable force this decade in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay. The Americans have won world titles in 2013 and 2017 but outside of those years, the Aussies have been dominant. With all four of its swimmers ranked in the top five in the world, it is a pretty safe bet to have the green and gold singing their national anthem on the first night of the World Championships.<\/p>\n
Cate Campbell\u00a0<\/strong>(52.12),\u00a0Emma McKeon<\/strong> (52.41), Bronte Campbell <\/strong>(52.84) and Shayna Jack <\/strong>(53.18) are the prohibitive favorites. Those four swam a 3:30.05 at the Commonwealth Games last April to set the world record and a 3:29 is within reach this year. With their cumulative flat start times from this year, the Australians are currently a 3:30.55. With relay takeovers and some more rest, a 3:29 is definitely a possibility.<\/p>\n The Americans are the only country to take down the Australians in a major meet since the 2012 Olympics but it doesn’t appear they will be able to challenge this summer. The U.S. has American Record holder Simone Manuel\u00a0<\/strong>and NCAA Champion Mallory Comerford<\/strong>, along with Olympian\u00a0Abbey Weitzeil\u00a0<\/strong>and former NCAA champion\u00a0Margo Geer<\/strong>. The United States should be a lock for a silver medal, but they don’t appear to have the horsepower to be able to compete with the Australians.<\/p>\n The Canadians have a good young core with the likes of\u00a0Taylor Ruck\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Penny Oleksiak<\/strong> as they are certainly a medal favorite as well. France surprised the swimming community by taking down the Netherlands at Europeans last year.\u00a0Charlotte Bonnet\u00a0<\/strong>has been a 53.29 this year and\u00a0Beryl Gastaldello\u00a0<\/strong>was a 53.84 in March.<\/p>\n The Dutch will always be medal contenders as long as\u00a0Femke Heemskerk\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Ranomi Kromowidjojo\u00a0<\/strong>are around. Those two have carried the Netherlands’ 4×100 free relay the last few years and will be doing the same in 2019. Sweden is also an outside shot at a medal as long as\u00a0Sarah Sjostrom\u00a0<\/strong>is on the team. The Swedes are also boosted by\u00a0Louise Hansson\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Michelle Coleman\u00a0<\/strong>but the struggle has been finding a fourth leg. Sweden did not make the final at Europeans last year after resting Sjostrom in the morning. If it can get a spot in the final, it could grab a medal.<\/p>\n World Record:\u00a0<\/strong>3:30.05, Australia, 2018 – Shayna Jack, Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell 2017 World Champion:\u00a0<\/strong>United States, 3:31.72, Mallory Comerford, Kelsi Worrell, Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel Australia has been the unstoppable force this decade in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay. The Americans have won world titles in 2013 and 2017 but outside of those years, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":304384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[73139],"class_list":["post-378612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-2019-fina-world-aquatics-championships"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nCurrent Records:<\/h2>\n
\nChampionship Record:\u00a0<\/strong>3:31.48, Australia, 2015 \u2013 Seebohm, McKeon, B. Campbell, C. Campbell
\nAmerican Record:\u00a0<\/strong>3:31.72, Mallory Comerford, Kelsi Worrell, Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel<\/p>\n
\n2018 Top 8:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Everyone’s Picks:<\/h3>\n
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