James Guy Swims First 200 Free PB in Nine Years in Paris 4×200 Relay Prelims

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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One thing is clear after three days of competition in Paris: the races matter more than the times. It’s been rare for swimmers to hit best times, and even more so in prelims. But that’s exactly what James Guy did this morning.

Leading off Great Britain’s 4×200 freestyle relay, the 28-year-old clocked 1:45.04 to give the defending Olympic champions a commanding lead in heat 2. That cleared his previous best time from by exactly a tenth of a second. More impressively, his previous best had been set nine years ago en route to the world title.

In that 2015 Kazan final, Guy led at the 100, but faced a strong challenge from China’s Sun Yang at the 150 who flipped 0.27-hundredths ahead at the final turn. But Guy dropped the hammer in the final 50, closing in a 26.81 to edge Yang by just six hundredths at the touch.

Guy only had the fourth fastest closing split in the field (which featured Paul Biedermann in bronze and Ryan Lochte in 4th) , but his opening speed ended up giving him the edge.

Now, nine years later, his front half looks incredibly similar to that Kazan final. He opened the race in almost exactly the same time as 2015, but held strong through the third 50. In absence of a tight race he didn’t have quite as much closing speed, but it was still enough to undercut his old time.

For the third Olympics in a row, Great Britain enters finals of the 4×200 free relay as the top seed. The quartet of Tom Dean, Guy, Matt Richards, and Duncan Scott won gold and scared the world record in Tokyo, and it seems likely the same squad will join forces again tonight.

Originally reported by Spencer Penland.

MEN’S 4×200 FREESTYLE RELAY – HEATS

• World Record: 6:58.55 – USA (2009)
• Olympic Record: 6:58.56 – USA (2009)
• 2021 Winning Time: 6:58.58 – Great Britain
• 2021 Time to Advance to Finals: 7:07.73

1. Great Britain – 7:05.11
2. United States – 7:05.57
3. France – 7:05.61
4. Australia – 7:05.63
5. Germany – 7:06.20
6. China – 7:07.72
7. South Korea – 7:07.96
8. Japan/Israel – 7:08.43 (TIE)

Great Britain looked great in the 2nd heat of the race this morning. That was in large part thanks to a huge front half from James Guy, who led off in 1:45.04, and Jack McMillan, who clocked a 1:45.68 on the 2nd leg. From there, Kieran Bird swam a 1:47.68 on the 3rd leg, and Tom Dean anchored in 1:46.71. That put the British team into the finish in 7:05.11, just ahead of the Americans’ mark from the previous heat. Great Britain looks great heading into the final tonight, as we know they’ll be swapping in some phenomenal 200 freestylers as they look to repeat as Olympic champions in the event.