KAZAN, Russia — By finishing a full second and change out of a bronze medal Sunday evening, in the last event of the FINA World Swimming Championships, the United States women’s 4×100-meter medley relay team provided a fizzling and fitting conclusion to the eight-day meet for the American squad.
One year out from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Team USA concluded these world championships with its fewest overall medals (23) since 2009 and fewest gold medals (eight) since 1994. Only a gold-medal swim by the men’s 4×100 medley relay in Sunday’s penultimate event prevented the U.S. from being caught for the gold medal lead by the Australians, who finished with seven.
Though Bethesda’s Katie Ledecky was the clear star this week, winning five gold medals (four of them in individual events) and setting three world records, veteran Ryan Lochte, in the 200-meter individual medley, was the only American man to win an individual gold here. The last time only two American swimmers took individual golds at worlds was 1994 (Janet Evans and Tom Dolan).
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The Americans could still point to their superior depth (they led the overall medal count by seven over Australia) and the fact so many of their top swimmers were not represented at worlds, thanks in large part to a selection process in which the world championships team is picked a year in advance of the meet.
“That’s really not something I would pass any judgment on, based on the people we had here and the performances,” said Frank Busch, USA Swimming’s national team director.
In particular, the presence of Michael Phelps could have altered the outcome in Kazan. Phelps, 30, was left off Team USA’s world championships roster following his DUI arrest in September. Swimming this week instead at the U.S. Nationals meet in San Antonio, Phelps won both the 100- and 200-meter butterfly events with sizzling times that would have been good enough for golds here.
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In addition, Katie Meili’s meet record time in the women’s 100 breast at July’s Pan American Games would have claimed silver in Kazan, and Kelsi Worrell would have bumped China’s Lu Ying out of the bronze position in the 100 fly.
“I think America could be pretty excited about our build up to Rio,” Busch said. “And there’s still more to come. So I wouldn’t think this has been a disappointment at all… I’m not really worried about where we’re going to be. I think history is on our side.”
Historically, however, the U.S. medal haul in a world championships the year before an Olympics has been an accurate gauge of its performance in the Olympics. In 2011, for example, the Americans won 16 golds and 29 overall medals. A year later, at London, they won 16 golds and 31 overall.
“We have a really, really good team and we have a lot of really good guys still back in the states competing right now,” said Nathan Adrian, who anchored the men’s 4×100 medley relay team that earned the U.S. its seventh and final golf medal on Sunday. “Look at how incredibly deep the 200 freestyle is for us. We could throw two relays in that final.”
A week ago, Adrian anchored the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay team that shockingly failed to earn a spot in the final, finishing 11th during qualifying – marking the first time the U.S. failed to qualify in an event it had won at 12 of the previous 15 worlds.
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Bryan Flaherty contributed to this report from Washington.