Australian swimmers broke the world record for the 4x200m freestyle relay in a time of 7:30.87 on Wednesday on day two of the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Melbourne.
Mollie O’Callaghan, Madison Wilson, Leah Neale and Lani Pallister improved the previous record held since 2014 by Dutch swimmers (7min 32sec 85). They were ahead of the Canadians and the Americans. Another world record broken, that of the 4×50 meter mixed medley relay in 1:35.15 by American swimmers Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Kate Douglass and Torri Huske who improved the previous world record held since November 2021 by the Netherlands in 1:36.18. The Dutch swimmers, who came 3rd in this event, were disqualified, giving up their place on the podium to the Canadians, the Italians climbing to the 2nd step. Note that Brazilian veteran Nicholas Santos, 42, won the 50-meter butterfly final in 21.78.
Lena Palliser won gold in the women’s 800m freestyle in 8:04.07, beating New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather and Japan’s Miyu Namba by more than six seconds. In the women’s 100m backstroke, Australian McKeown, Olympic medalist in Tokyo, won in 55.49 while in the men’s race, American Ryan Murphy won in 48.50, improving the championship record. .
