BY THE NUMBERS – MIXED 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY
World Record: 3:18.48 – USA (2025)
European Record: 3:19.68 – NAB (2025)
Championship Record: 3:22.07 – Great Britain (2021)
2025 World Champion: USA, 3:18.48
2024 European Champion: Hungary, 3:25.69
Podium All Sewn Up?
Only one of the Netherlands, Italy, and Russia/NAB made it onto the podium at the World Championships last summer, but they look to be battling for gold in Paris.
Russia/NAB won silver last summer in a new European record of 3:19.68, getting a 47.08 split from Ivan Girev and 52.4s on the back half from Daria Trofimova and Daria Klepikova. Girev set a new lifetime best of 47.63 in June and will likely retain his place, and another 47-low split would not be unexpected. Trofimova has only been 54.08 this season, but Klepikova was 53.45 at the Russian Championships and they should still have one of the stronger second halves.
Their leadoff leg will once again be Egor Kornev, but he should be significantly faster than the 47.69 he posted 12 months ago. He has lowered the Russian record to 46.96 this season, and should be able to cover for any regression from the other legs.
Italy were 4th in Singapore, 0.13 seconds behind France for bronze, but unlike the French look to be on the up this season. Sara Curtis broke 53 seconds for the first time to bring the Italian record down to 52.69 at the Sette Colli, and Carlos D’Ambrosio looks even better than he did a year ago and should be capable of replicating or exceeding his 47.34 split.
Manuel Frigo was 48.18 on the leadoff, but it seems likely that the front half will be faster this season than the 1:35.52 they clocked last year. Curtis could be 52-low on the back half, and Emma Menicucci broke 54 seconds at the Italian Championships with a 53.75 and should be faster than the 53.56 she anchored in.
The Netherlands were another 0.23 seconds behind the Italians last summer, with Marrit Steenbergen‘s 52.18 anchor not enough to catch Menicucci. She will be key for the Dutch here, and having lowered her lifetime best with a new world record of 51.68, could even post a 51-low on the anchor here. If van Wijk can split 52-mid, very possible with a flat start best of 52.91, this could be a scary back half.
Sean Niewold could be nearly a second faster than his 48.60 leadoff, with a new flat start best of 47.80 at Dutch Trials, but Renzo Tjon-A-Joe will not be present after splitting 47.87 last year. Merlin Belmon (48.90) or Brandon Van Den Berg (49.03) will come in, but the upside from the other three legs is enough that the Netherlands can weather that loss.
Final Hopefuls
Germany and Great Britain both have a strong male pair, but look slightly weaker than the teams challenging for the podium on the second half of the race. Great Britain will go with Matt Richards and Jacob Mills, who have both been 47-mid this season, while Germany should turn to national record holder Joshua Salchow and Kaii Winkler to lead off for them.
Germany then have Nina Holt, who split 53.22 last summer, and one of Linda Roth, Nicole Maier, and Nina Jazy, with Julianna Bocksa also an option. Great Britain have lost their national champion Eva Okaro to injury, which leaves the choice between the quartet of Freya Colbert, Freya Anderson, Evelyn Davis, and Theodora Taylor, all of whom have clocked between 53.99 and 54.05 this year.
Taylor split 52.63 at the Commonwealth Games, and Colbert has a 53.16 split from the British Universities Championships in February, so it will likely be Anderson and Davis who are left out, although Davis split 53.86 and Anderson split 53.78 at the Commonwealth Games . They probably have a higher quality group here than Germany, and should have enough to touch ahead of them.
Spain has a strong front half to race with sub-48-second swimmers Luka Hoek le Guenedal (47.72) or Cesar Castro Valle (47.98), but Maria Daza Garcia is their fastest female 100 freestyler this season in 54.01. Irene Ciercoles Galve, who is just 16 years old, is 54.68, but they will likely fall down the field on the second half of the race.
France should move up on the back half, with Marie Wattel and Beryl Gastaldello helping them to bronze at the World Championships last summer with splits of 52.74 and 53.22, respectively, but both are some way off that form this season. Maxime Grousset‘s return gives them an elite leadoff leg, but they may struggle to replicate Yann le Goff‘s 47.77 on the second leg. Their second-fastest man this season is just 48.82, and if Wattel and Gastaldello are off their best as well then they could miss the podium here.
Czechia will have Barbara Seemanova and Barbara Janickova on the back half of the race, who both own lifetime bests in the 53-mid range, but their male swimmers don’t look like they’ll be capable of sub-49 swims. Poland have almost the opposite problem, with Kamil Sieradzki, Mateusz Chowaniec, and Ksawery Masiuk giving plenty of male depth but no female swimmers under 55 seconds this season.
Sweden can field Robin Hanson, Ludvig Bartolek, Sofia Astedt, and Louise Hansson, but their outlook measurably improves if Sarah Sjostrom swims. The 2024 Olympic champion would give them another couple of seconds, although that would still be unlikely to land them on the podium.
SwimSwam’s Picks
Place
Nation
Season Best Add-Up
2024 Result
1
NAB
3:22.12
–
2
Italy
3:22.79
–
3
Netherlands
3:22.01
–
4
Great Britain
3:23.24
–
5
Germany
3:25.33
3rd
6
France
3:24.85
–
7
Spain
3:24.39
–
8
Sweden
3:28.07
6th
BY THE NUMBERS – MIXED 4×200 FREESTYLE RELAY
European Record: 7:22.33 – Benchmark
Championship Record: 7:26.67 – Great Britain (2021)
2024 European Champion: Hungary, 7:30.11
The Front-Runners
There appear to be two real competitors for gold in this field in Germany and Great Britain, who have quality across all four members of their quartets. Germany won bronze in 2024, although didn’t send their full team, as well as gold in 2018, and Great Britain won back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022.
The men should be reasonably even between the pair. Lukas Martens is the man with the fastest lifetime best from either nation thanks to the 1:44.14 he clocked last April, but Matt Richards posted a performance of 1:44.77 at the Aquatics GB Championships in April and James Guy split 1:44.03 at the Commonwealth Games.
Germany’s second swimmer will probably be either Jarno Baschnitt or Timo Sorgius, both of whom have been 1:46-point this year. Great Britain can turn to several 1:45-point swimmers, however, with James Guy, Jack McMillan, or Duncan Scott available.
The depth of Great Britain means that they should be no worse than a 1:45-low on their first two legs, with Tom Dean, Gabriel Shepherd, Evan Jones, Tyler Melbourne-Smith also available and under 1:46.70 this season, and their front two look most likely to be Richards and Guy. Germany will go with Martens for definite, but they then need at least one of Baschnitt and Sorgius to be on song. Even then, Great Britain should hold a lead at halfway.
Germany then have four women in 1:57-point range this season to choose from. Maya Tobehn (1:57.25) and Linda Roth (1:57.52) are the fastest two, but Isabel Gose (1:57.69) has a lifetime best of 1:56.66 and Nicole Maier (1:57.85) won individual bronze at the 2024 European Championships.
However, they will struggle to match Great Britain’s Freya Colbert, who set a new British record of 1:54.34 this season and was 1:55-point twice at the Commonwealth Games despite not looking at her best. One of Freya Anderson, Abbie Wood, and Leah Schlosshan will join her, but they should be safely in the lead on the final leg.
Great Britain hold the Championships record of 7:26.67 in 2021, and both teams could be under that here.
Fighting For Bronze
Italy and Russia look like they will be the two nations competing for bronze behind the pair of Germany and Great Britain, with Italy having the slight edge.
That is due in large part to the presence of youngster Carlos D’Ambrosio, who set an Italian record of 1:45.23 at the World Championships last summer and split 1:44.37 on a club 4×200 free relay at the Italian Championships. Jacopo Barbotti is the second-fastest Italian man this season in 1:47.27, and the race should be fairly even with Grigorii Vekovishchev (1:45.75) and Ivan Girev (1:46.12) the fastest two Russians this season.
Bianca Nannucci (1:57.82) and Alessandro Mao (1:57.24) have both broken 1:58 this season, with none of the Russian women having done so. Mao on the anchor should have enough to either hold off or run the Russian anchor leg, having won bronze at the World Junior Championships last summer in 1:57.00. Sofia Diakova split 1:57.70 at the European Junior Championships last month and should feature, but Italy beat them there in the women’s 4×200 free relay and should do so again here.
Making The Final
France lack depth in the 200 free in both the men’s and women’s events right now, and the podium is out of reach. Sauveur Cristofini, Roman Fuchs, Lucille Tessariol, and Albane Cachot will probably feature for them here, but they will struggle to crack 7:30. Leon Marchand would make a difference, but this relay probably doesn’t trouble the podium even with him, and as he has withdrawn from the IM events to manage a hip adductor injury it doesn’t seem like he would risk this event.
Spain have national record holder Luca Hoek Le Guenedal (1:46.10) and one of Miguel Perez-Godoy (1:47.04) and Cesar Castro (1:47.12) on the first half of the race, and a pair of 1:57-point swimmers in Maria Daza Garcia (1:57.15) and Ainhoa Campabadal Amezua (1:57.86). They have never swum this relay before internationally, and should comfortably qualify for the final although the podium looks a stretch.
Israel were 6th four years ago and did not swim in 2024, but in Alexey Glivinsky, Denis Loktev, Daniel Krichevsky, Daria Golavaty, Lea Polonsky, and Anastasia Gorbenko, they have the depth and strength to be competitive here. Like Spain, they are probably missing the elite leg to be in the medal conversation, but should be a finalist.
SwimSwam’s Picks
Place
Nation
Season Best Add-Up
2024 Result
1
Great Britain
7:21.49
–
2
Germany
7:27.16
3rd
3
Italy
7:28.10
–
4
NAB
7:28.02
–
5
Spain
7:28.19
–
6
Israel
–
–
7
France
7:31.92
–
8
Poland
7:39.05
2nd