Two lists, not one “medley”

The word “medley” on a heat sheet does not tell you the order. It tells you that all four strokes are in the race. Individual medley (IM) is a solo. Medley relay is a team. Parents with a programme that says “200 Medley” next to “4×50 Medley” often treat them as the same sentence with extra people. They are not.

World Aquatics — the international federation that used to be FINA — writes both orders in Part Two of the Competition Regulations. Swim England, USA Swimming, Swimming Canada, and Swimming Australia follow that stroke law. The current packet is indexed there (February 2026 update). Articles 9.1–9.4 still use the same wording as the January 2025 published text.

The two orders

Individual medley — one swimmer

World Aquatics 9.1: “Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle.” Each stroke is one quarter of the distance.

Medley relay — four swimmers

World Aquatics 9.3: “Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Freestyle.” Each swimmer covers one quarter of the distance.

Individual medley Medley relay
Who swims One person, all four strokes Four people, one stroke each
Order Fly → back → breast → free Back → breast → fly → free
Start Dive (butterfly) In the water (backstroke)
Rule Part Two, 9.1 Part Two, 9.3
Typical club race 100 IM (short course), 200 IM, 400 IM 4×50 medley, 4×100 medley, mixed medley
Fly first
IM. One child. Dive on butterfly, then the other three strokes
Back first
Medley relay. Four children. First swimmer already in the water
Same four
Fly, back, breast, free — just not in the same sequence

Why the orders differ

Backstroke is the awkward stroke at a start. World Aquatics 6.1: before the signal, swimmers line up in the water, facing the starting end, both hands on the grips. You cannot dive into a legal backstroke. That is why a 50 back, a 100 back, and a 200 back all begin with bodies already in the pool.

A medley relay has to respect that. If fly went first, the backstroker would either wait in the water — a collision with the incoming teammate — or dive and try to be on the back before the first stroke, which is not a backstroke start. So backstroke goes first. Breast, fly, and free then dive when the incoming hand hits the wall. After backstroke, the usual speed stack applies: breast is typically the slowest of the three, then fly, then free last.

An individual medley is one person. They can dive. Butterfly is a dive-start stroke, so it goes first. At the end of the fly quarter they touch with two hands on the breast, then push off on the back. They do not need a teammate to vacate the wall. You will not see a legal age-group IM that starts on back, and you will not see a legal medley relay that starts on fly. Memorise the two lists. Do not average them.

The official wording

World Aquatics Competition Regulations, Part Two — current index. 9.1 IM order; 9.3 medley-relay order; 9.4 each section finished under that stroke’s rules; 5.1 what “freestyle” means in both events; 6.1 backstroke starts in the water; 10.14 swimming a relay out of the listed order is a team DQ.

What “free” means in a medley

In a plain 50 free, World Aquatics 5.1 lets a swimmer use any style. In an IM or a medley relay, the same article closes the door: freestyle means any style other than backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly. That is front crawl. A child who finishes breast and throws fly on the last quarter is not being creative. They are DQ’d. Same if a medley-relay anchor “might as well” swim fly because it is their fast stroke.

The free quarter also has a body-position rule (9.2): they must be on the breast except in the turn. They may leave the wall on the back after the breast-to-free change, but they cannot kick until they have rolled past the vertical onto the breast. Kicking on the back into free is another DQ — not wrong order, but the same family of medley technical calls.

What a wrong-order DQ looks like

From the balcony it is undramatic. The referee’s arm goes up. A DQ slip is filled. The scoreboard may flip to DQ. There is no official time. The child still swam it. The next race on their arm is still their next race.

Wrong order is only one of the medley DQs. Rule 9.4 is the one officials live in: each section must be finished in accordance with the rule which applies to the stroke concerned. Fly must end with a legal two-hand butterfly finish before they become a backstroker. Backstroke must end on the back (6.5) before breast. Breast must end with a two-hand touch before free. A one-hand fly touch at the 50 of a 200 IM is not “they swam the wrong stroke.” It is “they did not finish fly.” Parents hear “DQ in the IM” and assume the child started on back. Often they started correctly and failed a wall.

What you saw Likely rule What it is not
IM: they dived and swam back first Wrong order (9.1) A medley relay. That is a different race.
IM: one-hand touch at a stroke change Illegal finish of that stroke (9.4 + 8.4 or 7.6) Wrong-order. The list was right; the wall was not.
IM or relay: fly or back on the last quarter Freestyle not free (5.1) A strong finish.
Relay: second swimmer was the flyer, not the breaststroker Wrong listed order (9.3 / 10.14) A clever tactical swap. Names are listed by stroke.
Relay: feet left the block before the incoming touch Early takeover (10.12) Wrong-order. The strokes were right; the exchange was not.

The first-timer version is the one this page exists for. A child has been drilling IM: fly, back, breast, free. Then someone says “you’re first” on a 4×50 medley, and they dive on fly. Or they have just been the backstroke leg of a relay, walk out for a 100 IM, and slip into the water for a backstroke start. Both are honest. Both are 9.1 or 9.3. Tell them the list for this event before they leave the chairs.

On a medley relay the coach also files names against strokes. World Aquatics 10.14: members and their order of competing must be nominated before the race; failure to swim in the listed order is a team DQ. Swapping the flyer and the breaststroker on the block because “they’re both about the same” DQ’s a legal team without anyone swimming a stroke badly. The card said breast second.

Avoid this

Do not shout “fly first!” at a child who is already in the water for a medley relay. Do not tell an IM swimmer to “start on back like the relay.” Do not treat a DQ as a character reference. Ask the coach which list this race uses. Then stop talking until they have touched.

IM is a solo with fly first. Medley relay is a team with back first. If you mix the lists, the referee will not.

Distances — the order does not change

World Aquatics long-course programmes (50-metre pools) use the 200 IM and 400 IM, plus the 4×100 medley and mixed 4×100 medley. Short-course (25-metre) adds a 100 IM and a 4×50 medley. Clubs copy that menu in metres or yards. A 400 IM is a longer day, not a different order.

Fractions: 200 IM is 50 of each stroke (two lengths in a 25-metre pool; one length in a 50-metre pool). 100 IM — short course only at World Aquatics level — is 25 of each. 400 IM is 100 of each. A 4×50 medley is 50 of one stroke per child; a 4×100 is 100. Mixed medley is still back, breast, fly, free; the extra rule is two male and two female swimmers (10.10), not a new list. Yards pools in the United States use the same orders. The clock is different. The list is not. Course maths: short course vs long course.

Heat sheet, arm, marshalling

The programme will say “200 IM” or “4×50 Medley Relay.” Those are not synonyms. If you are marking the arm — event, heat, lane — add IM or MED under the event number. A child who has both in one session will thank you in marshalling, where the chairs do not come with a rules briefing. Chairs: call room and marshalling. Paper: how to read a heat sheet.

On the relay, the person who swims first is the backstroker. “Lead-off” means they get in the water. Second is breaststroke, standing on the block — not a fly start. Confirm the stroke with the coach, not the parent in the next seat who also has the IM list memorised. Whether they should be on that relay at all is should my child swim relays. This page only answers which stroke they swim if the answer is yes.

After the race, log the IM as an IM and a relay split as a relay split. A 50 back lead-off is a 50 back with a backstroke start — not a dive 50, and not a 200 IM. Put the event name next to the time — never lose a PB.

FAQ

World Aquatics rule 9.1: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, then freestyle. Each stroke is one quarter of the distance. A 200 IM is 50 of each; a 400 IM is 100 of each. The 100 IM — short-course only at World Aquatics level — is 25 of each, same order.
World Aquatics rule 9.3: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, then freestyle. Four swimmers, one stroke each, one quarter of the distance each. A 4×50 is 50 of each stroke; a 4×100 is 100 of each. The first swimmer starts in the water.
Backstroke is the only stroke that starts in the water (World Aquatics 6.1). In a relay, that swimmer has to go first so they can take a legal in-water start. The other three then dive. In IM, one person dives on butterfly, then turns onto the back at the wall. Same four strokes; two different start problems.
The referee raises an arm. A DQ slip follows. The scoreboard may show DQ instead of a time. Common versions: swimming the IM as if it were a medley relay (back first); swimming a medley-relay leg out of listed stroke; finishing a stroke illegally before the next one starts (rule 9.4); swimming fly, back, or breast on the freestyle quarter (rule 5.1). An early takeover is a different DQ.
No. Rule 5.1: in IM and medley relay, freestyle means any style other than backstroke, breaststroke, or butterfly. Front crawl is what everyone swims. A fly kick-and-pull on that quarter is a DQ even if they meant it as a strong finish.
Yes. Every individual medley uses fly, back, breast, free. The 100 IM is a short-course event (25 metres or 25 yards of each stroke). Long-course World Aquatics programmes use 200 IM and 400 IM. The order does not change with the distance. Course split: short course vs long course.