2024 Paris Olympics: USA Strong-Arms their Way to Gold – Day 1 Men’s Relay Analysis

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
  • Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
• La Défense Arena — Paris, France
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
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• How To Watch
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• Prelims Live Recaps: Day 1
• Finals Live Recaps: Day 1

Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay Lineups

MEN’S 4×100-Meter FREESTYLE RELAY – Final

• World Record: 3:08.24 — United States: M. Phelps, G. Weber-Gale, C. Jones, J. Lezak (2008)
• World Junior Record: 3:15.49 — United States: D. Diehl, M. Williamson, H. Williams, J. Zhao (2023)
• Olympic Record: 3:08.24 — United States: M. Phelps, G. Weber-Gale, C. Jones, J. Lezak (2008)
• 2021 Winning Time: 3:08.97 — United States: C. Dressel, B. Pieroni, B. Becker, Z. Apple
• 2021 Bronze Medal Winning Time: 3:10.22

Final: 

1. GOLD: United States (Alexy, Guiliano, Armstrong, Dressel), 3:09.28
2. SILVER: Australia (Cartwright, Southam, Taylor, Chalmers), 3:10.35
3. BRONZE: Italy (Miressi, Ceccon, Conte, Frigo), 3:10.70
4. China, 3:11.28
5. Great Britain, 3:11.61
6. Canada, 3:12.18
7. Germany, 3:12.29
8. Hungary, 3:13.11

There’ll be cowbells ringing throughout the Olympic Village tonight as the United States celebrates its third straight Olympic Gold medal in the event. While the time was slower than it was in 2021, and the margin of victory was less, it’s the victory that matters as the US took revenge on the Australians and Italians after finishing behind both of them last summer.

Let’s dive in and look at each leg of the race, and then, at the end, we’ll look at the larger picture.

Leadoff Legs (Flat Start)

1. Pan Zhanle, China – 46.92 (1)
2. Jack Alexy, USA – 47.67 (2)
3. Nandor Nemeth, Hungary – 47.76 (3)
4. Matthew Richards, Great Britain – 47.83 (4)
5. Josh Liendo, Canada – 47.93 (5)
6. Jack Cartwright, Australia – 48.03 (6)
7. Alessandro Miressi, Italy – 48.04 (7)
8. Josha Salchow, Germany – 48.28 (8)

Pan Zhanle jumped from the anchor leg to the lead-off leg, and the move seemed to pay dividends, as Pan, who was 46.98 with a relay exchange, was 46.92 this evening, giving the Chinese plenty of open water and a lead of 3/4s of a second. Jack Alexy was slower than his time from the semifinals, but was still fast enough to put the USA into 2nd. Nandor Nemeth sliced over a quarter of a second on his time this morning and moved Hungary ahead of potential medalists Great Britain and Australia.

Matthew Richards was just .01 faster than he was at trials, and Jack Cartwright was .37 faster than he was at trials, but still a far cry from his 47.84 lead-opp last summer. Perhaps most worryingly, Alessandro Miressi‘s 48.04 was a full half-second slower than his time from Fukuoka.

2nd Legs (Flying Start)

1. Chris Guiliano, USA – 47.33 (1)
2. Thomas Ceccon, Italy – 47.44 (2)
3. Rafael Miroslaw, Germany – 47.66 (4)
4. Flynn Southam, Australia – 48.00 (5)
5. Yuri Kisil, Canada – 48.18 (6)
6. Jacob Whittle, Great Britain – 48.43 (8)
7. Szebasztian Szabo, Hungary – 48.46 (7)
8. Ji Xinjie, China – 48.58 (3)

Chris Guiliano, like Alexy above, was a little off his best in his first ever Olympic swim, as he split 47.33. The split more than a second faster than Ji Xinjie‘s 48.58 saw the Americans jump into the lead, and they never looked back. Ji, who had the slowest split of not only the 2nd legs but of all the legs, saw his team fall from first to third. Had he been able to replicate his prelims time of 47.93, China would have finished with the bronze medal. Flynn Southam‘s 48.00 was faster than his individual flat start at trials (48.11), but like Cartwright was just off his split from last summer (47.85).

Jacob Whittle, who out-split Alexander Cohoon on the relay this morning by .01 and was thus awarded the spot tonight, was unable to replicate his 47.90 from this morning. Splitting 48.43, Team GB fell from 4th to 8th.

3rd Legs (Flying Start)

1. Hunter Armstrong, USA – 46.75 (1)
2. Tom Dean, Great Britain – 47.72 (5)
3. Kai Taylor, Australia – 47.73 (4)
4. Chen Juner, China – 48.10 (2)
5. Paolo Conte Bonin, Italy – 48.16 (3)
6. Finlay Knox, Canada – 48.26 (=6)
7. Adam Jaszo, Hungary – 48.38 (=6)
8. Luca Armbruster, Germany – 48.43 (8)

Now you see him, now you don’t, should be one of Hunter Armstrong‘s magic tricks. More known as a backstroker, Armstrong had the fastest split of the American this morning, 47.50, and found himself and his long arms a spot on tonight’s relay. A self-proclaimed lover of cowbells, Armstrong burst open the floodgates. The US was leading the team from Italy by .48 when Armstrong dove in and the Cal-trained swimmer split a respectable 22.35 on the first 50 (for reference, Guiliano was 21.70 going out, the only 21 in the field) but surged home in 24.40 to give the US a lead of close to two seconds over the Chinese, who had passed the Italians. The split of 46.75 appears to be the 28th fastest performance of all time (not including Chalmers’) and has him ranked 4th among Americans and the fastest active swimmer.

Kai Taylor brought the Australians back from 5th to 4th and just .16 outside of second, giving Kyle Chalmers a shot at getting onto the podium. Tom Dean posted the second fastest split of any of the third swimmers, 47.72, and while it was faster than his morning performance of 48.07, the Brits still found themselves in 5th.

4th Legs (Flying Start)

1. Kyle Chalmers, Australia – 46.59 (2)
2. Manuel Frigo, Italy – 47.06 (3)
3. Duncan Scott, Great Britain – 47.52 (5)
4. Caeleb Dressel, USA – 47.53 (1)
5. Wang Haoyu, China – 47.68 (4)
6. Javier Acevedo, Canada – 47.81 (6)
7. Peter Varjasi, Germany – 47.92 (7)
8. Hubert Kos, Hungary – 48.51 (8)

Chalmers gave it his all, splitting 46.59, but it was not enough to cut down the advantage the Americans had built by this point. The Aussie, who has recorded a split as fast as 46.44, would have this result clock in as the 8th fastest ever, but even by outsitting Caeleb Dressel by close to a second, the Australians still finished over a second back of the medal. Manuel Frigo anchored the Italians to a bronze, dropping .74 from this time this morning to record a mark of 47.06. Duncan Scott, too, dropped massive amounts of time from this morning, splitting 47.52 on anchor as opposed to his 48.61 on lead-off, but the Brits were in such a hole that they still finished in 5th.

Dressel would post the 4th fastest split of the anchors, stopping the clock in 47.53, which exactly equals his flat start time from the US trials. While an improvement on this morning’48.19 it’s not a resounding result and doesn’t necessarily predict an easy remainder of the week, but claiming gold and getting the nerves/day 1 jitters out of the way may have been what was needed.

Notes

• While the ceiling may have been higher for the British men than the women, each struggled to find their footing. Duncan Scott split 47.52 on the anchor but as the owner of the 2nd fastest split ever (46.14), much more should be expected of him. The same can be said of  Tom Dean, who improved from prelims to finals, but his 47.72 is still a full second slower than his fastest split of 46.72. With 3/4 of their expected 4×200 free line-up underperforming tonight, the pressure to defend that gold has just increased tenfold.
• Pan Zhanle‘s 46.92 is the fifth-fastest performance ever and should prepare him well for the individual 100 against the likes of David Popovici.
• Much like with the women, medley relay rosters, both mixed and men’s are already in flux. While Alexy and Guiliano are the two individual entrants for the US, Armstrong’s split may be enough to tip the scales in his favor should the pair falter in the individual event.
• Perhaps supporting the idea of it being a slow pool, all three medaling times were slower than they were in 2021, but all were faster than at 2023 Worlds, so the jury is still out.