World Championships Results

4x100m Freestyle Relay
1 Brazil 3:11.26
2 France 3:11.38
3 Great Britain 3:11.62
4 United States of America 3:11.64
WEBER-GALE Garret 23.02 48.30 48.30
GREVERS Mattew 22.42 47.55 1:35.85
BERENS Ricky 23.01 48.19 2:24.04
JONES Cullen 22.26 47.60 3:11.64

Records fall, but U.S. 400 relay doesn't at world championships
The closest-contested men's final of Day 1 did not even feature a world record in the 400 freestyle relay. Even swimmers from other countries were all but handing the win to the vaunted French foursome because the U.S. team was without Olympic hero Jason Lezak, who is competing in Israel.

"We pretty much had a new relay," Phelps said of his teammates Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers and anchor Nathan Adrian. "When we come into a meet we have a goal to win all three relays. This is a perfect way to end Day 1."

That U.S. foursome almost didn't get the chance to swim in the final. In the morning prelims, Ricky Berens' suit, by the Italian company Jaked, split in the back when he leaned over to stretch after getting on the blocks.

"I kind of freaked out for a second," Berens said.

Showing some skin took on new meaning here. Of course, Berens is hoping he won't become a YouTube cult hero after completing the exposed swim.

"It felt like there was a bunch of extra weight around like a bag of water," he said. ". . . I was trying hard not to focus on the suit. I've never ripped a suit before."

Said Lochte: "I would have been, like, 'Whatever.' I would have swam naked if I had to. I mean, you're at the world championships, you can't really hold anything back."

In an Olympic Flashback, U.S. Team Rallies to Win Gold
[...] a U.S. team that had never swum together stepped up after a suit malfunction Sunday morning nearly prevented the Americans from even qualifying in the event's heats. And they persevered after an extremely average day from the team's resident living legend.

"Tonight, we pretty much had a whole new relay," said Phelps, who has won 14 gold medals in the last two Olympic Games. "I think tonight we came together well as a team. We swam great as Team USA. They put together three solid splits. I was a little disappointed; I wanted to swim a little faster."

Phelps's leadoff leg of 47.78 seconds put him 0.69 behind Cielo and 0.05 behind France's Fabien Gilot. Though it looked bad, things could have been worse. Moments before the event's qualifying heats Sunday morning, Ricky Berens, scheduled to swim third on the U.S. morning relay team, bent over to stretch and ripped the back of his suit. A large part of his rear end was exposed.

Urged on by relay teammate Cullen Jones, Berens competed anyway, helping the U.S. team qualify for Sunday's final.

"I kind of freaked out for just a second," Berens said. "I felt like [the tear] was almost down to my knees. I felt like I was putting on a pretty good show."

He did, but it didn't match the show later.