| Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Tokyo Aquatics Centre | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 30 July 2021 (heats) 1 August 2021 (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 74 from 16 nations | ||||||||||||
| Teams | 16 | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 3:26.78 WR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| ← 20162024 → | |||||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Qualification | |||
| Freestyle | |||
| 50 m | men | women | |
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| 400 m | men | women | |
| 800 m | men | women | |
| 1500 m | men | women | |
| Backstroke | |||
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| Breaststroke | |||
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| Butterfly | |||
| 100 m | men | women | |
| 200 m | men | women | |
| Individual medley | |||
| 200 m | men | women | |
| 400 m | men | women | |
| Freestyle relay | |||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women | |
| 4 × 200 m | men | women | |
| Medley relay | |||
| 4 × 100 m | men | mixed | women |
| Marathon | |||
| 10 km | men | women | |
The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 30 July and 1 August 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's sixteenth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1960.
The United States extended their dominance in the event, having won it every time since its introduction in 1960, except for the boycotted 1980 Games and the 2024 Games where they lost to China.
Summary
In the final swimming race at these Games, the U.S. continued their unbeaten streak in the event to take gold in a world record time of 3:26.78, eclipsing the former super-suited mark by half a second. Though a shade off his bronze medal-winning time in the individual 100 m backstroke, Ryan Murphy (52.31) nonetheless got the U.S. out to an early lead of 0.21 seconds. While Michael Andrew's breaststroke split of 58.49 led the U.S. to fall back in third, Caeleb Dressel unleashed the fastest butterfly split of all time in 49.03 to regain the lead. Diving in with a margin of 6-tenths of a second over the field, Zach Apple anchored the U.S. home to gold in 46.95 for their eleventh swimming gold of the Games.
100 m breaststroke world record holder Adam Peaty threw down the fastest breaststroke split ever in 56.53 to give the British team of Luke Greenbank (53.63), James Guy (50.27), and Duncan Scott (47.08) a brief lead of 0.6 seconds on the second leg. Though the U.S. edged them out to the front in the following leg, Great Britain touched in a European record of 3:27.51 - the third fastest performance in history - to defend their silver medal from five years earlier in Rio.
Meanwhile, Italy's well-rounded foursome of Thomas Ceccon (52.52), Nicolò Martinenghi (58.11), Federico Burdisso (51.07) and Alessandro Miressi (47.47) posted a national record of 3:29.17 to secure Italy's first podium finish in the event. Despite a strong back-half - with Andrey Minakov (50.31) and Kliment Kolesnikov (47.03) recording the third-fastest butterfly and freestyle splits in the field - ROC could not close the gap on the Italians to miss the podium by 5-hundredths of a second. Australia, the defending bronze medallists, could not repeat their podium finish, falling to fifth in 3:29.60. Japan took sixth in 3:29.91, breaking China's 2018 Asian record by 0.08 s, while Canada (3:32.42) finished in a distant seventh. China was disqualified from the race owing to an early relay takeover by freestyler He Junyi.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |
|
3:27.28 | Rome, Italy | 2 August 2009 | |
| Olympic record |
|
3:27.95 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 13 August 2016 |
The following record was established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 August | Final |
|
 United States |
3:26.78 | WR |
Qualification
Main article: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – QualificationThe top 12 teams in this event at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships qualified for the Olympics. An additional 4 teams will qualify through having the fastest times at approved qualifying events during the qualifying period (1 March 2019 to 30 May 2020).
Competition format
The competition consists of two rounds: heats and a final. The relay teams with the best 8 times in the heats advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.
Schedule
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| 30 July 2021 | 21:10 | Heats |
| 1 August 2021 | 11:36 | Final |
Results
Heats
The relay teams with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
Final
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
1 | United States |
Ryan Murphy (52.31) Michael Andrew (58.49) Caeleb Dressel (49.03) Zach Apple (46.95) |
3:26.78 | WR |
 |
5 |  Great Britain |
Luke Greenbank (53.63) Adam Peaty (56.53) James Guy (50.27) Duncan Scott (47.08) |
3:27.51 | ER |
 |
4 |  Italy |
Thomas Ceccon (52.52) Nicolò Martinenghi (58.11) Federico Burdisso (51.07) Alessandro Miressi (47.47) |
3:29.17 | NR |
| 4 | 3 |  ROC |
Evgeny Rylov (52.82) Kirill Prigoda (59.06) Andrey Minakov (50.31) Kliment Kolesnikov (47.03) |
3:29.22 | |
| 5 | 7 |  Australia |
Mitch Larkin (53.19) Zac Stubblety-Cook (58.67) Matthew Temple (50.78) Kyle Chalmers (46.96) |
3:29.60 | |
| 6 | 2 |  Japan |
Ryosuke Irie (53.05) Ryuya Mura (58.94) Naoki Mizunuma (50.88) Katsumi Nakamura (47.04) |
3:29.91 | AS |
| 7 | 8 |  Canada |
Markus Thormeyer (53.69) Gabe Mastromatteo (59.67) Joshua Liendo (51.02) Yuri Kisil (48.04) |
3:32.42 | |
| 6 |  China |
Xu Jiayu (52.77) Yan Zibei (58.35) Sun Jiajun (51.76) He Junyi |
DSQ |
References
- ^ "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- "Competition Results | World Aquatics Official". World Aquatics. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- Dillman, Lisa (2 August 2009). "Michael Phelps gets 5th gold as more records fall". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- "Phelps wins 5th gold as U.S. relay team shatters record". CBC Sports. 2 August 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- Lutz, Rachel (13 August 2016). "Michael Phelps wins career Olympic gold No. 23 in medley relay". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- Auerbach, Nicole (13 August 2016). "Michael Phelps ends career with 23rd Olympic gold medal as U.S. wins medley relay". USA Today. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. FINA. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- "FINA Swimming Rulebook, 2017–21" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- "Heats results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
- "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
