When Great Britain’s Jacob Whittle swung early on his relay start in the heats of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2023 World Championships, it cost his nation more than just a spot in the final.

The Great Britain team of Lewis Burras, Matt Richards, Whittle, and Duncan Scott put together the fastest time of the heats in 3:10.47, besting the teams from the United States (3:11.63) and Australia (3:11.64) that Sunday morning in Fukuoka. But Whittle’s early start meant the team was disqualified and a shot at the gold medal was dashed.

The intention for the final was to bring in 200m freestyle Olympic champion Tom Dean, who split 46.95 on the end of Great Britain’s 4x100m free relay the year before, but he was left to watch the race on the sidelines while Australia celebrated a gold medal at 3:10.16.

Great Britain had been one of the gold medal favorites heading into the meet based on the fact they had three guys ranked in the top 20 in the world in the 100m freestyle, and were known to swim better on relays. From a flat start, Richards was ranked sixth in the world at 47.72, while Burras and Scott were tied for 19th globally.

And when the three guys minus Dean put up a 3:10 in the heats, many people in the venue thought that that was the team to beat had they stayed safe on exchanges.

“I reckon we had a win possibility back in Fukuoka,” Dean told World Aquatics over Zoom. “It was frustrating but when it’s day one, you have to move on because we had other events and other medals to be won.”

Dean mentions how the British team faced a similar circumstance at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 - the British team came in as a medal hopeful in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay but finished ninth in the heats and was unable to advance to the final.

“We still had a great meet regardless,” Dean said of the 2020 Olympics. “It wasn’t ideal but I think one of the strengths of British Swimming is we are able to dust ourselves off after a setback and crack on the job at hand.”

British Swimming is going all-in on the 4x100m freestyle relay at the Doha World Championships, bringing in its best four swimmers over 100 meters to leave no change on the table. Dean won’t be doing either the 200m freestyle or the 200m IM, both events in which he won medals in last summer at the World Championships. The 4x100m freestyle will be his only event. 200m free World champ Matt Richards, Olympic medalist Duncan Scott, and rising star Jacob Whittle, will join forces with Dean in Qatar.

The Goal - Secure Olympic Qualification and Get Back to Training at a Camp in Australia.

“I will not be competing in my main events unfortunately,” Dean said. “We need to book ourselves a ticket for Paris and it’s a good chance to get the boys a hit out that we didn’t really get in the final in Fukuoka last July. It’s good to bring everyone together and see what we are capable of doing, because I think we would have had a great team in that final had we been able to do it.”

The British Freestyle Revolution

The 100m freestyle has become one of the premiere events for British Swimming over the last few years. Despite having never won either an Olympic or World championships medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and having one individual medalist in the men’s 100m freestyle - a silver from Robert McGregor in the 1964 Olympics, the British have become a freestyle powerhouse internationally, although it’s not something that is discussed among current national team members.

“We don’t talk about it. Everyone is aware of it - I mean look at the 4x2,” Dean said.

The success of the 200m freestyle was built in large part by the gold medal in the 4x200m relay at the 2015 World Championships and James Guy’s individual gold in the 200m freestyle that year. British Swimming was able to build a core group of 200m freestylers around the likes of Guy and Duncan Scott that won Olympic silver in the 4x200m in 2016, plus the World title in 2017 and the Olympic gold in 2021.

Dean was a direct result of that 200m freestyle momentum. At the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he won the 200m freestyle in a 1-2 finish with Scott, while he led off the 4x200m freestyle relay team to the gold medal the next day. It was Great Britain’s first Olympic gold medal in a men’s freestyle event since Henry Taylor won the 400m, 1500m, and 4x200m freestyle in 1908.

“That was a steady build, and I think the 4x100 free is following a similar pattern,” Dean said of the rise of the British 200m freestyle dominance.

“We have a lot of really strong individual 100 freestylers now so it’s a case of putting the four of us together and doing something special. We’ve had a lot of 47s flat start, and I think three of us have split 46 rolling - myself, Duncan, and Matt. So I feel like there is something special to be done there but it’s a case of putting the four of us together and doing it on the day.”

Great Britain won the 4x200m freestyle at the World Championships this summer on the backs of Richards and Guy, who have won the individual World title in the 200m freestyle, and Dean and Scott, who went 1-2 at the last Olympics in that event.

They’ve conquered the Olympic and Worlds finals in the relay, with the last stone to fall being the world record. The United States still holds that mark from 2009 at 6:58.55.

“If any statistician looks at our times and how the team is coming together and how we’ve been knocking on the door of the 4x2 and potentially the 4x1, I think if the race comes together something really special could happen,” Dean said of the possibility of a world record coming from Great Britain this year.

The relay success at the international level is catching the attention of those growing up in British Swimming. Kids are growing up wanting to be a part of the success, leaving the 100m and 200m freestyle finals to be among the most competitive at the British Championships. No longer are they trying to make a relay to make a final; they are trying to win a gold medal.

“Every man does the 200 free at Trials because everyone wants that 4x2 success and it takes a big swim just to be in the top four in the UK and to be accepted into that final for that relay,” Dean said.

“I think the 100 free is following that same pattern. There’s so many guys that can put their names in the hat for that relay but you have to be on form at Trials and on form at the major meets. It’s a testament to the strength of our team at the moment where you have to fight for your spot on the relay, but you have to really be on form.

“You can’t take it for granted, you have to be accepted into that relay. If I have an off day in the 200, someone will be there to take my spot and race on that relay because we have so many different options of who we could swim.”