2023 World Aquatics Championships: Great Britain's disqualified from men's 4x100m freestyle relay

Team Great Britain have been disqualified from the men's 4x100m freestyle relay of the ongoing 2023 World Aquatics Championships. The World Aquatics Championships began on July 14 in Fukuoka, Japan, but the swimming events got underway on Sunday, with a wide range of events being held during the morning session.

But to the shock of British fans, an early takeoff happened in an exchange between Jacob Whittle and Matt Richard led to Team Great Britain being disqualified from the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.

Team Great Britain were considered favorites in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay heading into the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. They had some world-class swimmers in their side namely Lewis Edward Burras, Matthew Richards, Jacob Whittle, and Duncan Scott.

Competing in Heat 2, they started in the fifth lane. The other countries that competed in Heat 2 were Vietnam, Italy, Canada, Spain, Israel, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Singapore. The British clocked a time of 3:10.47. Jacob Whittle had a reaction time of -0.04.

Lewis Burras clocked a time of 48.61 in the first 100m followed by Matt Richards clocking a time of 46.89 during the next 100m. Jacob Whittle and Duncan Scott clocked a time of 47.37 and 47.60 during their respective chances.

The video of the incident posted on Kyle Sockwell's Twitter account is attached below:

Had Team Great Britain not been disqualified, their time of 3:10.47 would have surpassed the British record time of 3:11.14. The current British record time of 3:11.14 is held by Lewis Burras, Matthew Richards, Jacob Whittle, and Tom Dean. The record was set during the men's 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2022 World Championships.

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Top eight qualifiers of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay heats of 2023 World Aquatics Championships

While Team Britain were disqualified from the men's 4x100m freestyle relay of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, eight teams have qualified for the final at the end of heats.

The top eight teams at the end of heats as revealed on the omegatiming website are attached below:

1. United States (Chris Guiliano, Destin Lasco, King Matt, Justin Ress) - 3:11.63
2. Australia (Jack Cartwright, Matthew Temple, Kai Taylor, Flynn Southam) – 3:11.64
3. Italy (Alessandro Miressi, Leonardo Deplano, Lorenzo Zazzeri, Manue Frigo) – 3:12.53
4. Canada (Ruslan Gasziev, Javier Acevedo, Edouard Fullum-Hout, Josh Liendo) – 3:13.49
5. People's Republic of China (Haoyu Wang, Juner Chen, Jintong Yang, Zhanle Pan) – 3:13.54
6. Spain (Sergio de Celis Montalban, Luis Dominguez Calonge, Mario Molla Yanes, Cesar, Castro Valle) – 3:13.77
7. Brazil (Marcelo Chierighini, Guilherme Caribe Oliveira Santos, Felipe Ribeiro de Souza, Victor Guimaraes Alcara) – 3:13.82
8. Israel (Denis Loktev, Tomer Frankel, Ron Polonsky, Gal Cohen Groumi) – 3:14.03

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Start List for the men's 4x100m freestyle relay finals at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships

The start list for the men's 4x100m freestyle relay finals has been announced. The start list (Teams and their lanes) as revealed on the omegatiming website is attached below.

1. Brazil
2. People's Republic of China
3. Italy
4. United States of America
5. Australia
6. Canada
7. Spain
8. Israel

Germany and Serbia have been named as the reserve teams for tonight's final of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.