American Women’s Freestyle Relays Should Obliterate World Records at Short Course Worlds
The United States has assembled its team traveling to the Short Course World Championships in Beijing, with the most but not all big-name American swimmers securing their spots at the biennial global meet. The combination of swimmers on the team will give the U.S. a chance to sweep the freestyle relays and challenge world records in all of them.
The American women will be big favorites in both freestyle relays at the Short Course World Championships in part because Australia will be missing many of its major stars, including Mollie O’Callaghan and Meg Harris. Lani Pallister is the only swimmer who took part in the Aussies’ gold-medal-winning 800 free relay at this summer’s Pan Pacific Championships who is scheduled to compete at the short course meet. Alexandria Perkins, Brittany Castelluzzo and Olivia Wunsch are the other top Aussies set for the trip to China.
400 Freestyle Relay
The United States returns all four women who contributed to a world-record-setting swim in the 400 free relay at the 2024 Short Course Worlds, plus even more young talent. Simply, the 3:25.01 the team recorded two years ago in Budapest should go down by a substantial margin this time as Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh return to lead the team.
Douglass concluded the U.S. Short Course Trials by smashing her own 100 free world record by three tenths, clocking 49.64. She was already the only swimmer in history to break 50. Walsh took second in 50.61, three tenths behind her world-title-winning time of 50.31 from 2024, with Liberty Clark third in 50.94 and Rylee Erisman fourth in 51.22. Based on flat-start times from this meet, those four women combine for a time of 3:22.41, a whopping 2.60 seconds under the existing world record.
If that’s not enough, the American women will also have a B team that would contend for a medal if entered separately. Camille Spink, who qualified for the 800 free relay, clocked 51.61 at trials while Simone Manuel went 52.26. Pair them with Alex Shackell and Katharine Berkoff, both members of the world-record-setting squad in Budapest qualified for this team in other strokes, and that’s a strong team. In fact, Spink and Manuel’s flat-starts plus Shackell and Berkoff’s 2024 splits adds up to 3:27.26, much faster than Australia’s silver-medal-winning time from the 2024 meet.
Alas, the U.S. cannot enter two separate squads, but the coaching staff will have a bevy of options to choose from when picking the lineup.
Kate Douglass 49.64 + Gretchen Walsh 50.61 + Liberty Clark 50.94 + Rylee Erisman 51.22 = 3:22.41
Camille Spink 51.61 + Simone Manuel 52.26 + Katharine Berkoff 51.38 + Alex Shackell 52.01 = 3:27.26
800 Freestyle Relay
Liberty Clark — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Another record seemingly on borrowed time based on the Americans’ performances in the 200 free at the Short Course Trials. Veteran Simone Manuel led for most of that race, only for Liberty Clark to storm ahead on the final length while Rylee Erisman snuck past Manuel at the finish.
With her time of 1:51.31, Clark set an American record and became the eighth-fastest woman in history in the event. She ranks third in the world rankings for 2026 behind the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, with Erisman fourth at 1:51.96 and Manuel sixth globally at 1:52.05.
Also set for tickets to China are Camille Spink and Alex Shackell. Spink clocked 1:53.71 in prelims before placing fourth in the final, and Shackell was fifth in the 200 free but qualified for the team with her second-place finish in the 100 and 200 butterfly. Claire Weinstein, however, will not be available after she declined the spot on the team to prioritize her recovery from illness.
Another potential wrinkle comes from Anna Peplowski, a veteran of every U.S. women’s 800 free relay at major long course competitions since 2023. Peplowski swam as fast as 1:52.36 during the World Cup circuit, ranking seventh globally and earning a wild card entry to Short Course Worlds. Furthermore, the American team will include Alex Walsh, who led off the world-record-breaking squad at the 2024 meet with a time of 1:53.25.
Peplowski could certainly help, but the American women have enough speed to crush the world record of 7:30.13 just based on flat-start times from the selection meet.
Liberty Clark 1:51.31 + Rylee Erisman 1:51.96 + Simone Manuel 1:52.05 + Camille Spink 1:53.71 = 7:29.03
