2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
- Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
- Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
- Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
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Men’s 400 Medley Relay
The U.S. men took down the 12-year-old world record in the 400 medley relay final to close out the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Sunday morning, winning gold in a time of 3:26.78 to extinguish the previous mark of 3:27.28.
Great Britain gave them a run for the win, ultimately finishing second in a European Record time of 3:27.51, and four other nations cracked 3:30.
Let’s dive into the splits.
100 BACKSTROKE LEAD-OFFS
| Swimmer | Country | Back Split |
| Ryan Murphy | USA | 52.31 |
| Thomas Ceccon | Italy | 52.52 |
| Xu Jiayu | China | 52.77 |
| Evgeny Rylov | ROC | 52.82 |
| Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 53.05 |
| Mitch Larkin | Australia | 53.19 |
| Luke Greenbank | Great Britain | 53.63 |
| Markus Thormeyer | Canada | 53.69 |
Ryan Murphy set the world record in the men’s 100 backstroke leading off the medley relay at the 2016 Olympics, and while he didn’t quite hit that time here, he still gave the Americans the early lead in 52.31. That time is essentially right on what Murphy has been going all week, with his fastest swim coming in at 52.19 in the individual event.
Thomas Ceccon put Italy in second, clocking 52.52 to fall just over two tenths shy of his National Record set earlier in the meet, while individual 100 back winner Evgeny Rylov (52.82) was more than eight tenths slower than he was individually.
Luke Greenbank was three tenths off his PB in 53.63, putting the Brits in an early 1.32-second hole.
100 BREASTSTROKE SPLITS
| Swimmer | Country | Breast Split |
| Adam Peaty | Great Britain | 56.53 |
| Nicolo Martinenghi | Italy | 58.11 |
| Yan Zibei | China | 58.35 |
| Michael Andrew | USA | 58.49 |
| Zac Stubblety-Cook | Australia | 58.67 |
| Ryuya Mura | Japan | 58.94 |
| Kirill Prigoda | ROC | 59.06 |
| Gabe Mastromatteo | Canada | 59.67 |
Adam Peaty dropped the fastest relay split of all-time on the breaststroke leg, recording a time of 56.53 to launch the Brits into the lead. Peaty’s previous best leg came at the 2016 Games in 56.59.
Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi, who has now split sub-58 on multiple occasions, had the second-fastest leg in 58.11, moving the Italians ahead of the U.S. at the halfway mark of the race. Michael Andrew was 58.49 for the Americans, slightly under his fastest flat-start swim from the meet (58.62).
Yan Zibei sizzled for China in 58.35, though they were ultimately disqualified.
100 BUTTERFLY SPLITS
| Swimmer | Country | Fly Split |
| Caeleb Dressel | USA | 49.03 |
| James Guy | Great Britain | 50.27 |
| Andrei Minakov | ROC | 50.31 |
| Matthew Temple | Australia | 50.78 |
| Naoki Mizunuma | Japan | 50.88 |
| Josh Liendo | Canada | 51.02 |
| Federica Burdisso | Italy | 51.07 |
| Sun Jiajun | China | DQ |
Caeleb Dressel was the difference-maker for the Americans, out-splitting GBR’s James Guy by 1.24 seconds with the fastest fly leg ever: 49.03.
Dressel’s split improves on his previous fastest-ever leg, 49.28, and gave Zach Apple a cushion on six-tenths on the free leg.
Guy split a strong 50.27, having put up what is now the seventh-fastest split ever on the mixed relay (50.00).
Andrei Minakov produced an elite time of 50.31 for the Russian Olympic Committee, while Federico Burdisso (51.07) had the field’s slowest split (not including the DQed Chinese), which loosened Italy’s grip on bronze coming into the final exchange.
100 FREESTYLE SPLITS
| Swimmer | Country | Free Split |
| Zach Apple | USA | 46.95 |
| Kyle Chalmers | Australia | 46.96 |
| Kliment Kolesnikov | ROC | 47.03 |
| Katsumi Nakamura | Japan | 47.04 |
| Duncan Scott | Great Britain | 47.08 |
| Alessandro Miressi | Italy | 47.47 |
| Yuri Kisil | Canada | 48.04 |
| He Junyi | China | DQ |
Zach Apple had a massive rebound swim after a rough split on the 4×200 free relay, throwing down a time of 46.95 to out-split everyone else in the field.
Apple was 46.69 on the 400 free relay at the beginning of the meet, also as the anchor, showing he can come up clutch when the pressure is on.
Duncan Scott had engineered an epic come-from-behind win for the Brits in this event at the 2019 World Championships, splitting 46.14 on the end, but only mustered a 47.08 here—still a fast time, though it surprisingly only ranked fifth in the elite field.
Kyle Chalmers churned out another sub-47 for the Aussies in 46.96, and Kliment Kolesnikov brought the Russians home in 47.03, but Italy’s Alessandro Miressi (47.47) did just enough to land the team it’s first-ever medal with a bronze.
Japan’s Katsumi Nakamura, who missed the 100 free semis in 17th, was also very fast in 47.04.
REACTION TIMES
| Country | Aggregate Exchanges |
| USA | 0.45 |
| Great Britain | 0.84 |
| Italy | 0.87 |
| Russia | 0.67 |
| Australia | 0.93 |
| Japan | 0.43 |
| Canada | 0.42 |
| China | DQ (not for exchange) |
The U.S. gained 39 one-hundredths on Great Britain on relay exchanges alone, with their three swimmers that had a takeover combining for a 0.45 RT. Apple had the fastest exchange for the Americans at .04.
The Canadians have been sharp all week on relay exchanges, and that trend continued here, though they were well back in seventh.
ROC gaining two tenths on Italy on exchanges was almost the difference in winning a medal, as the Italians ended up only holding on by .05.
Didn’t he violate the fina rule of SW 8.5, “The swimmer must remain on the surface until the next turn or finish“ when he touched?
Awesome meet for the team. Mixed medley was a learning experience. If you put Smith (58.0)/ Andrew (58.4)/ Dressel (49) and Weitzel (52.5) = 3.38.2 gets silvers
Don’t care if rowdy Gaines thinks MAs split was good enough to quiet the critics. It wasn’t. Please find us some fresh commentary that doesn’t cater to big egos.
ummm…they broke the WR….is that not good enough for you?
and that race was AFTER dressel and andrew swam the 50 free final…incredible.
When 3 of the 4 swimmers have fastest split and MA goes 1 second + SLOWER than his PB? YES!!!!!
So a 58 relay leg is some how a critic – quieting time from someone who has gone 57 low individually? Sorry folks, that dog won’t hunt and neither will USRPT
When the hell did he go 57 low
Just caught on the replay…..James actually called Zapple America’s “traditional anchor leg on the relay”…..
good grief
Very close race. What’s got to be painful for the British team is only one of their 4 swimmers did their best ever swim—and if my math is correct, if any of the other 3 had done their best, they would have been even or better with the American team. That’s why they swim the race and don’t just aggregate times but with Peatty’s incredible split, it was there for them.
The Americans also could have been much better. Murphy has been .5 better, Andrew has been .3 better flat start, and Apple was .3 faster at the start of the meet. Dressel had a phenomenal swim, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement on the US squad
Only one of the Americans did their best ever swim as well…
I’m wondering if Curzan tapered earlier in the year when she was blasting out all those best times and if not, maybe she should skip the taper next time. 🙂
Great breakdown of an entertaining event: Thank you for comparing the international splits and exchanges so clearly.
Awesome meet for the team. Mixed medley was a learning experience. If you put Smith (58.0)/ Andrew (58.4)/ Dressel (49) and Weitzel (52.5) = 3.38.2 earns silver
I’d say awesome meet for the Aussie women’s team. The U.S. team had some major disappointments: Kalisz no 200 IM final, MA until the medley relay, King’s 100 breast, Zapple no 100 free final and his leg on the 4 X 200 relay, Ledecky 5th in the 200 free, the mixed medley debacle, Simone’s 50 free, Murphy not improving from OTs and slower than 2016, Flick’s 200 fly.. We definitely have some work to do, especially when even what we thought was our “guaranteed” win (Dressel 100 fly), is looking dicey for next go-round, The uneven performance of the U.S. team makes Dressel’s and Ledecky’s performances even more impressive if that’s possible.
Guess the glass is half empty in Texas. No mention of Finke? There will/should be natural turnover with the old guard retiring and the kids coming up (e.g. Jacoby). The young talent in men’s freestyle (Popovici and Korean guy) is pretty exciting. Got to give props for the UK men who had a great meet.
In general, a lot of team USA were slower here than at trials. I think Curzan/Huske will be better next time around, Smith possibly if she get her emotions under control. I would expect Manual to be back as well. She seemed optimistic and has reflected on what led to the OTS and how to avoid it in the future. MA, as well. Not sure if he swims the 200 IM or focuses on the 50s/100s going forward, but he has improved a lot the last 24 months. Finke, Smith had promising swims in the freestyle and in general the women have a lot of young talent for 2024.
Sure, there’s a few gaps, but could bounce back on the… Read more »
in reading your list, regan smith also had some disappointments
Yeah USA missed two very good medal chances on M4x2Free and MMR through bad team selection.
Dressel’s instastory shows that he was meant to do the 4x2free relay
Why did they pull him?
I’m betting he is grateful he didn’t swim it. If that relay added 7 hundredths of a second to his 100 free time then he loses to Kyle.
I mean, he was practically passing out after the last relay. Not sure he had enough in the tank to do that, too.
I mean he just did a triple and double in back to back days and put up a 49.0 in his last race. I don’t think swimming one 200 would have affected him at all.
Maybe u should ask Caeleb and Coach Troy that question
I would have thought Seliskar would swim in finals that is who qualified for that relay at trials. He was the 4 th place qualifier not Zapple. Plus Zapple had 100 free event coming so they should save his energy for that
I noticed that too. It is unfortunate that the schedule for Dressel is all weighted on the back end of the Olympics but he coped with it and put up some brilliant perfromances.
The schedule is helpful for swimmers who do 100/200 of the same stroke but it you start doing multiple strokes it gets messy with some nasty doubles.
I also think that the medal “inflation” with new relays is a bit unfortunate. Peaty swam 5×100 Br and got three medals for example. If there was a 4×2 medley for men and a mixed 4×2 medley Milak would be a mega weapon and potentially have got 3 medals for swimming 200 Fly five times. I am not advocating… Read more »
Which is why the men’s 400 and up events are won in times not close to the WR(and now so are the women’s with Katie L on the back half of her career, titmus in the 400 being the exception). There’s not bang for your buck focusing on events above 200m in the NCAA or ISL