{"id":506750,"date":"2022-06-18T09:19:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T16:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=506750"},"modified":"2022-06-18T09:19:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-18T16:19:20","slug":"world-championships-dressel-usa-ocallaghan-aus-to-lead-off-favored-400-free-relay-squads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-dressel-usa-ocallaghan-aus-to-lead-off-favored-400-free-relay-squads\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships: Dressel (USA), O’Callaghan (AUS) to Lead Off Favored 400 Free Relay Squads"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships: Dressel (USA), O’Callaghan (AUS) to Lead Off Favored 400 Free Relay Squads<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first evening of swimming competition at the FINA World Championships will end with the 400 freestyle relays, first the men’s event and then the women’s. The teams that captured Olympic gold medals will enter as the top seeds in both events, and the top 100 freestylers in the world will swim the leadoff legs.<\/p>\n

For the United States,\u00a0Caeleb Dressel<\/strong> will lead off ahead of teammates\u00a0Ryan Held<\/strong>,\u00a0Justin Ress <\/strong>and\u00a0Brooks Curry<\/strong>, with all three of those swimmers returning after competing in prelims. Dressel is the two-time world champion in the 100 free and the Olympic gold medalist in the event, while Held is the only other swimmer among the quartet who has ever raced in a major international relay final. None of the swimmers who joined Dressel to win Olympic gold for the U.S. last year will return.<\/p>\n

Notably, Drew <\/strong>Kibler<\/strong> tied for fourth in the 100 free at the U.S. International Team Trials last month, but he was left off both prelims and finals squads. USA Swimming said in a statement, “Due to COVID protocol travel delays, a decision was made to pull Drew Kibler from the relay to focus on his individual and future events. USA Swimming continues to prioritize the health and safety of our athletes and staff by following FINA guidelines and enforcing mask rules and social distancing.”<\/p>\n

Also in the men’s race, 2016 Olympic champion\u00a0Kyle Chalmers<\/strong> will anchor for Australia, while 200 free Olympic champion\u00a0Tom Dean<\/strong> will swim the last leg for Great Britain. Butterfly star\u00a0Kristof Milak<\/strong> will anchor for Hungary, and rising star Josh Liendo<\/strong> is set to handle leadoff duties for Canada. The full start list for the men’s race is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the women’s side, the Australians will only bring back\u00a0Meg Harris<\/strong> from their Olympic-gold-medal-winning squad in 2021, with sprint stars Emma McKeon<\/strong>,\u00a0Cate Campbell<\/strong> and\u00a0Bronte Campbell<\/strong> all absent, but they will add the two fastest 100 freestylers in the world so far this year.\u00a0Mollie O’Callaghan<\/strong> will lead off, while Shayna Jack\u00a0<\/strong>anchors, with\u00a0Madison Wilson<\/strong> swimming second and Harris third.<\/p>\n

The United States is seeded second with\u00a0Torri Huske<\/strong>,\u00a0Erika Brown<\/strong>,\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong> and\u00a0Claire Curzan<\/strong> racing in the finals, with Brown the only returning swimmer from the bronze-medal-winning group in Tokyo. Canada, the bronze medalists from Tokyo, will be seeded third in the finals with\u00a0Kayla Sanchez<\/strong>,\u00a0Taylor Ruck<\/strong>,\u00a0Maggie Mac Neil<\/strong> and\u00a0Penny Oleksiak<\/strong>. China could also get into the mix with\u00a0Zhang Yufei<\/strong> leading off and\u00a0Yang Junxuan<\/strong> swimming second. Check out the full women’s start list here<\/a>.<\/p>\n