US Women Destroy World Record, Breaking It By 3.94 Seconds, With 3:40.41 4×100 Medley Relay

2024 SC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay — Final

• World Record: 3:44.35 — United States (C. Curzan, L. King, T. Huske, K. Douglass) (2022)
• Championship Record: 3:44.35 — United States (C. Curzan, L. King, T. Huske, K. Douglass) (2022)
• 2022 Champion: United States (C. Curzan, L. King, T. Huske, K. Douglass) — 3:44.35

Final:

1. United States (Smith, King, G. Walsh, Douglass) — 3:40.41 ***WORLD RECORD***
2. Great Britain (Wood, Evans, Okaro, Anderson) — 3:47.84
3. China (Qian, Tang, Chen, Liu) — 3:47.93
4. Sweden — 3:48.35
5. Neutral Athletes ‘B’. — 3:49.35
6. Italy — 3:50.36
7. Japan — 3:51.13
8. Hungary — 3:51.65

The US women destroyed the 4×100 medley relay record swimming to a time of a 3:40.41. That broke the old World Record of a 3:44.35 set by the US at the 2022 World Championships.

Split Comparison

The biggest difference today was the backstroke leg as Regan Smith led off over two seconds faster than Claire Curzan did two years ago. Smith’s lead off of a 54.02 was also an individual World Record, faster than her previous mark of a 54.27.

In addition to Smith’s leg being much faster, Gretchen Walsh also helped break the record as she was almost two seconds faster on the fly leg than Torri Huske was in 2022. Walsh was notably faster in the individual flat start was on night 3 as she swam a 52.71 then.

Lilly King and Kate Douglass were within a tenth of their times from 2022, showing consistency over the years as their names will stay in the record books for the event.