{"id":656619,"date":"2026-11-03T05:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T13:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=656619"},"modified":"2026-11-03T05:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T13:06:23","slug":"american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"American Women&#8217;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>American Women&#8217;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The United States has assembled its team traveling to the Short Course World Championships in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldaquatics.com\/competitions\/5052\/world-aquatics-swimming-championships-25m-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beijing<\/a>, with the most but not all big-name American swimmers securing their spots at the biennial global meet. The combination of swimmers on the team will give the U.S. a chance to sweep the freestyle relays and challenge world records in all of them.<\/p>\n<p>The American women will be big favorites in both freestyle relays at the Short Course World Championships in part because Australia will be missing many of its major stars, including <strong>Mollie O&#8217;Callaghan<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Meg Harris<\/strong>.\u00a0<strong>Lani Pallister<\/strong> is the only swimmer who took part in the Aussies&#8217; gold-medal-winning 800 free relay at this summer&#8217;s Pan Pacific Championships who is scheduled to compete at the short course meet.\u00a0<strong>Alexandria Perkins<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Brittany Castelluzzo<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Olivia Wunsch<\/strong> are the other top Aussies set for the trip to China.<\/p>\n<h2>400 Freestyle Relay<\/h2>\n<p>The United States returns all four women who contributed to a world-record-setting swim in the 400 free relay at the 2024 Short Course Worlds, plus even more young talent. Simply, the 3:25.01 the team recorded two years ago in Budapest should go down by a substantial margin this time as\u00a0<strong>Kate Douglass<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Gretchen Walsh<\/strong> return to lead the team.<\/p>\n<p>Douglass concluded the U.S. Short Course Trials by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-short-course-trials-kate-douglass-blasts-100-free-wr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">smashing her own 100 free world record by three tenths, clocking 49.64<\/a>. She was already the only swimmer in history to break 50. Walsh took second in 50.61, three tenths behind her world-title-winning time of 50.31 from 2024, with\u00a0<strong>Liberty Clark<\/strong> third in 50.94 and\u00a0<strong>Rylee Erisman<\/strong> fourth in 51.22. Based on flat-start times from this meet, those four women combine for a time of 3:22.41, a whopping 2.60 seconds under the existing world record.<\/p>\n<p>If that&#8217;s not enough, the American women will also have a B team that would contend for a medal if entered separately.\u00a0<strong>Camille Spink<\/strong>, who qualified for the 800 free relay, clocked 51.61 at trials while <strong>Simone Manuel<\/strong> went 52.26. Pair them with\u00a0<strong>Alex Shackell<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Katharine Berkoff<\/strong>, both members of the world-record-setting squad in Budapest qualified for this team in other strokes, and that&#8217;s a strong team. In fact, Spink and Manuel&#8217;s flat-starts plus Shackell and Berkoff&#8217;s 2024 splits adds up to 3:27.26, much faster than Australia&#8217;s silver-medal-winning time from the 2024 meet.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, the U.S. cannot enter two separate squads, but the coaching staff will have a bevy of options to choose from when picking the lineup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kate Douglass 49.64 + Gretchen Walsh 50.61 + Liberty Clark 50.94 + Rylee Erisman 51.22 = 3:22.41<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Camille Spink 51.61 + Simone Manuel 52.26 +\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Katharine Berkoff 51.38 + Alex Shackell 52.01 = 3:27.26<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>800 Freestyle Relay<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_645879\" style=\"width: 460px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-645879\" data-attachment-id=\"645879\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/liberty-clark-19\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-scaled.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1920\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4.5&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Peter H. Bick&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OM-1MarkII&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;liberty-clark-&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1781999455&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;\\u00a9Peter H. Bick&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;10000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.001&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;liberty-clark-&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"liberty-clark-\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-645879 size-medium-small\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"liberty-clark-\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-450x338.jpg 450w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-267x200.jpg 267w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/liberty-clark-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-3660-Edit-533x400.jpg 533w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-645879\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Liberty Clark &#8212; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Another record seemingly on borrowed time based on the Americans&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-short-course-trials-day-three-womens-finals-kate-douglass-gretchen-walsh-just-miss-world-records-liberty-clark-posts-american-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">performances in the 200 free at the Short Course Trials<\/a>. Veteran\u00a0<strong>Simone Manuel<\/strong> led for most of that race, only for\u00a0<strong>Liberty Clark<\/strong> to storm ahead on the final length while\u00a0<strong>Rylee Erisman<\/strong> snuck past Manuel at the finish.<\/p>\n<p>With her time of 1:51.31, Clark set an American record and became the eighth-fastest woman in history in the event. She ranks third in the world rankings for 2026 behind the Netherlands&#8217; <strong>Marrit Steenbergen<\/strong> and Hong Kong&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Siobhan Haughey<\/strong>, with Erisman fourth at 1:51.96 and Manuel sixth globally at 1:52.05.<\/p>\n<p>Also set for tickets to China are\u00a0<strong>Camille Spink<\/strong> and <strong>Alex Shackell<\/strong>. Spink clocked 1:53.71 in prelims before placing fourth in the final, and Shackell was fifth in the 200 free but qualified for the team with her second-place finish in the 100 and 200 butterfly. <strong>Cla<\/strong><strong>ire Weinstein<\/strong>, however, will not be available after she declined the spot on the team to prioritize her recovery from illness.<\/p>\n<p>Another potential wrinkle comes from\u00a0<strong>Anna Peplowski<\/strong>, a veteran of every U.S. women&#8217;s 800 free relay at major long course competitions since 2023. Peplowski swam as fast as 1:52.36 during the World Cup circuit, ranking seventh globally and earning a wild card entry to Short Course Worlds. Furthermore, the American team will include <strong>Alex Walsh<\/strong>, who led off the world-record-breaking squad at the 2024 meet with a time of 1:53.25.<\/p>\n<p>Peplowski could certainly help, but the American women have enough speed to crush the world record of 7:30.13 just based on flat-start times from the selection meet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Liberty Clark 1:51.31 + Rylee Erisman 1:51.96 + Simone Manuel 1:52.05 + Camille Spink 1:53.71 = 7:29.03<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Women&#8217;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds The United States has assembled its team traveling to the Short Course World Championships in Beijing, with the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":645697,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122077,17,7],"tags":[138654,138656,75569,58437,25010,135342,133850,25400],"class_list":["post-656619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-americas","category-commentary","category-usa","tag-2026-u-s-world-short-course-trials","tag-2026-usa-swimming-short-course-world-championship-trials","tag-camille-spink","tag-gretchen-walsh","tag-kate-douglass","tag-liberty-clark","tag-rylee-erisman","tag-simone-manuel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>American Women&#039;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate SCM WRs<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Composite times from the recent U.S. Short Course Trials indicate that the U.S. women should crush the 400 and 800 free relay global marks.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American Women&#039;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Composite times from the recent U.S. Short Course Trials indicate that the U.S. women should crush the 400 and 800 free relay global marks.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rieder - Senior Writer\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@David_Rieder\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rieder - Senior Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Rieder - Senior Writer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/610dd0484edf5c4dba59e62a7e5b89af\"},\"headline\":\"American Women&#8217;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/\"},\"wordCount\":717,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2026 U.S. World Short Course Trials\",\"2026 USA Swimming Short Course World Championship Trials\",\"Camille Spink\",\"Gretchen Walsh\",\"Kate Douglass\",\"Liberty Clark\",\"Rylee Erisman\",\"Simone Manuel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"-Home Slider\",\"Americas\",\"Commentary\",\"USA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/\",\"name\":\"American Women's Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate SCM WRs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Composite times from the recent U.S. Short Course Trials indicate that the U.S. women should crush the 400 and 800 free relay global marks.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"American Women&#8217;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/610dd0484edf5c4dba59e62a7e5b89af\",\"name\":\"David Rieder - Senior Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/771e0586ce6532b0e16f68a06c9bd273?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/771e0586ce6532b0e16f68a06c9bd273?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"David Rieder - Senior Writer\"},\"description\":\"David Rieder is a staff writer for Swimming World. He has contributed to the magazine and website since 2009, and he has covered the NCAA Championships, U.S. Nationals, Olympic Trials as well as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and the 2017 World Championships in Budapest. He is a native of Charleston, S.C., and a 2016 graduate of Duke University.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/David_Rieder\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/davidr\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"American Women's Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate SCM WRs","description":"Composite times from the recent U.S. Short Course Trials indicate that the U.S. women should crush the 400 and 800 free relay global marks.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"American Women's Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds","og_description":"Composite times from the recent U.S. Short Course Trials indicate that the U.S. women should crush the 400 and 800 free relay global marks.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Rieder - Senior Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@David_Rieder","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Rieder - Senior Writer","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/"},"author":{"name":"David Rieder - Senior Writer","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/610dd0484edf5c4dba59e62a7e5b89af"},"headline":"American Women&#8217;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds","datePublished":"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/"},"wordCount":717,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg","keywords":["2026 U.S. World Short Course Trials","2026 USA Swimming Short Course World Championship Trials","Camille Spink","Gretchen Walsh","Kate Douglass","Liberty Clark","Rylee Erisman","Simone Manuel"],"articleSection":["-Home Slider","Americas","Commentary","USA"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/","name":"American Women's Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate SCM WRs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-03T13:06:23+00:00","description":"Composite times from the recent U.S. Short Course Trials indicate that the U.S. women should crush the 400 and 800 free relay global marks.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920,"caption":"Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/american-womens-freestyle-relays-should-obliterate-world-records-at-short-course-worlds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"American Women&#8217;s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/610dd0484edf5c4dba59e62a7e5b89af","name":"David Rieder - Senior Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/771e0586ce6532b0e16f68a06c9bd273?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/771e0586ce6532b0e16f68a06c9bd273?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"David Rieder - Senior Writer"},"description":"David Rieder is a staff writer for Swimming World. He has contributed to the magazine and website since 2009, and he has covered the NCAA Championships, U.S. Nationals, Olympic Trials as well as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and the 2017 World Championships in Budapest. He is a native of Charleston, S.C., and a 2016 graduate of Duke University.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/David_Rieder"],"url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Kate Douglass (right) and Gretchen Walsh will lead the way for the U.S. women in the 400 free relay -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kate-douglass-and-gretchen-walsh-2026-TYR-Pro-Indy-2894-Edit-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-2KOD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":656620,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656619\/revisions\/656620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}