The mixed 4 × 1500 metre relay event at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships was held on 20 July 2023 at the Seaside Momochi Beach Park in Fukuoka, Japan. Spain led the early portions of the race with male swimmers, before being overtaken by Australia, who started with female swimmers. Australia's Kyle Lee led at the final changeover, after which he was overtaken by Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri and Hungary's Dávid Betlehem. Paltrinieri and Betlehem raced for the gold and silver over the final leg.

Paltrinieri finished first for Italy with a time of 1:10:31.2, Hungary finished second with 1:10:35.3, and Australia finished third with 1:11:26.9, two tenths of a second ahead of Germany in fourth. It was the first time Italy had won an open water team event at the World Championships.

Event description Each athlete swam 1500 m. The teams consisted of two men and two women, meaning each team completed 6 km in total. The men and women could swim in any order. Each World Aquatics member federation could enter one team.

Background Germany was considered the favourite going into the event, with Leonie Beck having won the women's 5 km and 10 km earlier in the programme. Germany's Florian Wellbrock, who won the individual men's 5 km and 10 km, did not compete in this event, in order to recover for the 1500 m and 800 m races in the pool the following week. It was the last event of the open water swimming programme at the Championships.

Race The race took place at 08:00 on 20 July at the Seaside Momochi Beach Park in Fukuoka, Japan. The water temperature was around and the air temperature was about . The water conditions were rougher than in the other open water events at the Championships.

Spain took an early lead in the race with a male on the first leg. Spain led into the first changeover, while Australia's Chelsea Gubecka was the first female to finish the first leg. Australia's Moesha Johnson was the first woman to reach the second changeover, where she had a 13-second lead on the European nations who also decided to place women on the first two legs.

By the 3700-metre mark (700 metres into the third leg), Australia was leading the race with Nicholas Sloman, who was sixteen seconds ahead of Germany's Rob Muffels. Australia's Kyle Lee entered the water at the final changeover with a lead of seven seconds on Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri and Hungary's Dávid Betlehem. Lee was overtaken by Paltrinieri and Betlehem, and Paltrinieri and Betlehem continued to race to the finish. Paltrinieri won for Italy with a time of 1:10:31.2, while Hungary finished second with 1:10:35.3. Australia finished third with 1:11.26.9, two tenths of a second ahead of Germany in fourth. A photo finish was needed to determine whether Australia or Germany won the bronze.

It was the first time Italy had won an open water team event at the World Championships.

+Results Rank Nation Swimmer Time Barbara PozzobonGinevra TaddeucciDomenico AcerenzaGregorio Paltrinieri 1:10:31.2 Bettina FábiánAnna OlaszKristóf RasovszkyDávid Betlehem 1:10:35.3 Chelsea GubeckaMoesha JohnsonNicholas SlomanKyle Lee 1:11:26.7 4 Lea BoyLeonie BeckRob MuffelsOliver Klemet 1:11:26.9 5 Anastasiia KirpichnikovaLogan FontaineAurélie MullerDavid Aubry 1:11:40.6 6 Ana Marcela CunhaViviane JungblutDiogo VillarinhoAlexandre Finco 1:13:07.4 7 Airi EbinaKaito TsujimoriIchika KajimotoKaiki Furuhata 1:13:38.5 8 Carlos GarachGuillem PujolÁngela MartínezPaula Otero 1:13:41.8 9 Joey TepperBrennan GravleyMariah DeniganKatie Grimes 1:13:58.6 10 Emma FinlinEric HedlinBailey O'ReganEric Brown 1:14:11.8 11 Zhang ZiyangWang KexinWu ShutongMeng Rui 1:14:50.1 12 Candela GiordaninoCecilia BiagioliFranco CassiniJoaquín Moreno 1:14:53.7 13 Eva FabianMatan RoditiYonatan AhdutOrian Gablan 1:15:52.3 14 Amica de JagerKate BeavonMatthew CaldwellConnor Buck 1:16:12.1 15 Martha SandovalPaulo StrehlkePaulina AlanísDaniel Delgadillo 1:16:52.7 16 Lenka ŠtěrbováOndřej ZachAlena BenešováMartin Straka 1:17:41.7 17 Diana TaszhanovaGalymzhan BalabekMariya FedotovaLev Cherepanov 1:17:41.8 18 Park Jae-hunSung Jun-hoLee Hae-rimLee Jeong-min 1:19:28.7 19 William Yan ThorleyNikita LamNip Tsz YinKeith Sin 1:19:31.8 20 Christian BayoMariela GuadamuroAlondra QuilesJamarr Bruno 1:23:31.2 21 Nikita KornilovParizoda IskandarovaAnastasiya ZelinskayaVyacheslav Shkretov 1:26:29.2

Notes

Further information

– Graph comparing the placement of each team throughout the race – Photo gallery from the event – Another photo gallery from the event – Post-race quotes from the swimmers in the medalling teams – Post-race quotes from the United States swimmers – Includes the French Swimming Federation's report on the race and two post-race quotes from the French swimmers. – Report on the German performance – Further details on the Italian race and post-race quotes from the Italian team

References