COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2022
- Friday 29 July – Wednesday 3 August 2022
- Birmingham, UK
- Sandwell Aquatic Center
- start times
- Prelims: 10:30 a.m. local time / 5:30 a.m. ET
- Finals: 7:00 p.m. local time / 2:00 p.m. ET
- LCM (50m)
- Get to know Central
- event schedule
- Registration list (PDF)
- live results
FULL 4×200 FREE RELAY RESULTS
The Australian Quartet of Madi Wilson, Kiah MelvertonMollie O’Callaghanand Ariarne Titus ran away with the gold medal in the women’s 4×200 free relay, setting a new world record of 7:39.29. They finished 12.69 seconds ahead of the Canadians, who won the silver medal.
They are the first team to break the 7:40 hurdle, beating the record of 7:40.33 set by China at the Tokyo Games by more than a second.
Summer McIntosh led the first transition, leading in 1:55.24 to put the Canadians ahead. Australia’s second swimmer, Melverton, caught the Canadians and had put the Australians ahead by about a second and a half by the end of their stage. O’Callaghan extended the lead and Titmus anchored in 1:52.82, the fastest split time ever.
Split Comparison – Australia at the Commonwealth Games vs. China at the Tokyo Olympics
| Australia – Commonwealth Games 2022 | Splits | China – Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games | Splits |
| Madi Wilson | 1:56.27 | Yang Junxuan | 1:54.37 |
| Kiah Melverton | 1:55.40 | Tang Muhan | 1:55.00 |
| Mollie O’Callaghan | 1:54.80 | Zhang Yufei | 1:55.66 |
| Ariarne Titus | 1:52.82 | Li Bingje | 1:55.30 |
The Australian was 1.44 seconds from the world record pace when Titmus dunked. But by the 100, she had pulled back to just 0.38 seconds and was right on the finish line at the final corner.
Her split of 1:52.82 is by far the fastest ever and she is the only one to break 1:53.
Top 5 relay splits of all time, women’s 4×200m relay:
Titmus’ split is a key difference for the Aussie team here. They tend to start with her as they did in Tokyo where she split with a 1:54.51, a far cry from the 1:53.50 she used to win gold in the individual competition.
Another big difference is the addition of Mollie O’Callaghan. O’Callaghan led the preliminary relay in Tokyo in 1:55.11, a junior world record, but the coaches made the decision to drop her from the final relay. This decision cost her as they could have used her as a launch point and Titmus anchor or gave her a rolling launch. In the end they took Olympic bronze and were overtaken by the Americans.
The Australians have a lot of depth in the 200 degree freestyle, have had world record potential for a while and finally managed to put all the pieces together in Birmingham. At the start of the meeting, they swept the 200 vacant women’s podium, a harbinger of what was to come here.