{"id":859718,"date":"2026-08-18T14:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T14:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859718\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T14:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T14:48:13","slug":"could-australia-take-down-world-record-in-mens-400-free-relay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859718\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Australia Take Down World Record in Men’s 400 Free Relay?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could Australia Take Down Legendary World Record in Men\u2019s 400 Freestyle Relay Before United States?<\/p>\n

Thanks to the heroics of\u00a0Kyle Chalmers, Australia captured world titles in the men\u2019s 400 freestyle relay in 2023 and 2025, both in upset fashion. On both occasions, Australia had never led before Chalmers entered the water in third place. A 46.56 split in 2023 blasted Chalmers past Italy\u2019s Thomas Ceccon. Same story in Singapore, with Chalmers storming ahead of Italy and the United States, only this time splitting 46.53. In between, he went 46.59 in the Olympic final to bring Australia into silver-medal position.<\/p>\n

Now, a decade after Chalmers emerged as a teenage Olympic champion in the 100 freestyle, he could lead Australia to history in relay action. Assuming he returns to the 400 free relay squad at next year\u2019s World Championships, he will join the most accomplished contingent of countrymen he has ever raced alongside.<\/p>\n

The evidence came at the two major competitions where the Dolphins competed over the past month, the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships. Gold in Glasgow was no surprise, particularly as the British team was split into various home countries. But no one counted on a 47.09 leadoff leg from\u00a0Flynn Southam, a best time by six tenths quickly placing the 21-year-old into the global elite in the event.<\/p>\n

\"flynn<\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)<\/p>\n

Southam\u2019s star turn in this relay allowed Chalmers to cruise home in 46.93 to wrap up the gold medal. In between,\u00a0Kai Taylor split 47.53 while\u00a0Harrison Turner, in his first appearance on this relay, went 47.94.<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, the Australian team raced at the Pan Pacific Championships but with several of its biggest names having returned home, Chalmers and Southam among them. Without that duo, surely the Aussies would struggle against a full-strength team from the United States\u2026 except this less-heralded foursome only fell by a half-second.<\/p>\n

The two swimmers joining this squad in Irvine,\u00a0Jamie Jack and\u00a0Ed Sommerville, both performed admirably, Jack splitting 47.46 and Sommerville 47.31 to close the gap heading into the anchor leg. Turner, best known for his surprise bronze medal in the 200 butterfly at last year\u2019s World Championships, dove in 0.35 behind American\u00a0Jack Alexy, twice a World Championships silver medalist in the 100 free and the Pan Pacs winner a day earlier.<\/p>\n

No contest, right? Not exactly, not with Turner riding Alexy\u2019s wake to a 46.99 split, almost a second ahead of what he went at the Commonwealth Games. Alexy pulled away slightly to give the American team the gold medal and top time in the world for 2026, but Australia\u2019s valiant silver-medal effort left a sense that the U.S. team will not be favored come next year\u2019s long course World Championships.<\/p>\n

\"Kyle<\/p>\n

Kyle Chalmers \u2014 Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)<\/p>\n

Imagine an Australian team with the best versions of Chalmers and Southam alongside whoever among the next four swimmers is carrying momentum. Adding up this year\u2019s top splits delivers a telling result. Southam\u2019s 47.09, Sommerville\u2019s 47.31, Turner\u2019s 46.99 and Chalmers\u2019 46.93 add up to a total time of 3:08.32, only eight hundredths behind the world record established by the American team 18 years ago in the legendary Olympic matchup with France in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Incorporate times from 2025, and the math looks even more promising. Assume that when pushed, Chalmers can replicate his 46.53 form. Taylor went 47.04 on that world-title-winning relay. Add in Southam\u2019s leadoff and Turner\u2019s anchor split from Pan Pacs, and suddenly Australia has a time of 3:07.65, under the world record by more than a half-second. That assumes everything goes perfectly, but it still leaves breathing room.<\/p>\n

That said, the Americans will not roll over easily. Just from the past few weeks, the Americans have flat-start times of 47.14 from Alexy, 47.16 from Chris Guiliano, 47.49 from Patrick Sammon, 47.53 Brooks Curry and 47.66 from\u00a0Destin Lasco, and that\u2019s before reaching the 47.70 Caeleb Dressel produced in his victorious effort at U.S. Nationals. The Americans\u2019 best flat-start times combine for a composite time of 3:09.32, well within the range of the record once relay starts are considered, and Alexy holds the American record in the event at 46.81.<\/p>\n

But Australia\u2019s not-so-secret weapon will be looming when the two teams square off next year on the opening day of the global meet in Budapest. Given his history, Chalmers anchoring should scare any competitor, and his country\u2019s much-improved depth should ensure that he enters the pool within range of gold \u2014 and perhaps that elusive record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could Australia Take Down Legendary World Record in Men\u2019s 400 Freestyle Relay Before United States? Thanks to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[429911,64,63,350996,351901,351902,350999,25248,353282,44],"class_list":["post-859718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-2026-pan-pacific-championships","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-flynn-southam","tag-harrison-turner","tag-jamie-jack","tag-kai-taylor","tag-kyle-chalmers","tag-max-giuliani","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}