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)
- Full aquatics schedule
- SwimSwam Event Previews
- Entry Lists
- Live Results
- Day 7 Finals Heat Sheet
- Mixed Medley Relay Lineups
The British swimmers put the world record in the mixed 400 medley relay up in flames in the event’s first-ever Olympic final, extinguishing the previous mark by over eight tenths of a second in 3:37.58.
The quartet of Kathleen Dawson (58.80), Adam Peaty (56.78), James Guy (50.00) and Anna Hopkin (52.00) obliterated the field by 1.28 seconds, with the former world record holders from China placing second in 3:38.86.
Dawson sat sixth after the opening 100 back leg, going three tenths slower than the prelims to rank second among all female lead-offs. Peaty then blasted a 56.78 split on breaststroke, the second-fastest ever, to propel the Brits up into fourth, with the three nations that led off with two men (Italy, China, Russian Olympic Committee) out ahead.
Guy then mowed down the three female butterfliers ahead of him, registering an all-time relay leg of 50.00—the sixth-fastest split ever, only trailing four from Caeleb Dressel and one from Michael Phelps.
Sitting six tenths ahead of China as she dove into the water, Hopkin left no doubt with her blazing-fast 52.00 anchor, the second-fastest among the seven female splits in the field (individual 100 free gold medalist Emma McKeon had the fastest for Australia in 51.73).
The final time of 3:37.58 for Great Britain also erases the Olympic, European and British Record of 3:38.75 that they broke in the prelims. The lone personnel change from that squad was Hopkin coming in for Freya Anderson on the freestyle leg.
Split Comparison
After Dawson’s slight add from the prelims, the other three British swimmers combined to go nearly a second and a half faster than the splits from the heats, with Hopkin (0.59 seconds) and Guy (0.58 seconds) leading the way.
The biggest difference-maker compared to the former world record set by China, however, came from Peaty, as he made up more than a second on Yan Zibei. Hopkin gaining nearly seven tenths was also a key factor.
| China, Former WR | Great Britain, New WR |
Great Britain, Former ER
|
| Xu Jiayu – 52.45 | Kathleen Dawson – 58.80 |
Kathleen Dawson – 58.50
|
| Yan Zibei – 57.96 | Adam Peaty – 56.78 | Adam Peaty – 57.08 |
| Zhang Yufei – 55.32 | James Guy – 50.00 | James Guy – 50.58 |
| Yang Junxuan – 52.68 | Anna Hopkin – 52.00 | Freya Anderson – 52.59 |
| 3:38.41 | 3:37.58 | 3:38.75 |
The Chinese team fielded the same four swimmers as they did when breaking the world record, with all four going slightly slower than they did in their record-swim last year.
The event ultimately produced four of the 12 swims sub-3:40 in history, including all three medalists cracking 3:39.
All-Time Performances, Mixed 400 Medley Relay (LCM)
- Great Britain, 3:37.58 – 2021 Olympic Games
- China, 3:38.41 – 2020 Chinese Championships
- United States, 3:38.56 – 2017 World Championships
- Great Britain, 3:38.75 – 2021 Olympic Games
- Great Britain, 3:38.82 – 2021 European Championships
- China, 3:38.86 – 2021 Olympic Games
- Australia, 3:38.91 – 2018 Pan Pacific Championships
- Australia, 3:38.95 – 2021 Olympic Games
- Australia, 3:39.08 – 2019 World Championships
- United States, 3:39.10 – 2019 World Championships
- Italy, 3:39.28 – 2021 Olympic Games
- China, 3:39.40 – 2020
If Swimswam talks to the US coaches after this meet, this event is one (of a few) that y’all gotta grill ’em on.
Give yourself a pat on the back America
The USA Swimming coaching staff receives a failing grade. That’s right, a grade of “F”. MMFF lineup or bust. Idiots!
I mean, the two teams that came first and third went FMMF so…
Time for USA Swimming to find a male 100 meter breaststroker. In the future, the mixed 4 x 100 meter medley relay needs to stick to the MMFF lineup.
WMMW is generally the lowest differences between men and women.
Now what can the men’s medley relay manage?
Luke Greenbank will have the confidence of winning a medal in the 200 back. I reckon 53.5 (53.34 PB)
Adam Peaty just split 56.7 and will likely replicate that in the mens medley.
James Guy split 50.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best swim of his life. I doubt he’ll do that again but maybe under 50.5.
Duncan Scott went 46.92 at Europeans and has been swimming way better in every single event at the Olympics than at Europeans (200 Free, 4×200 Free, 200 IM)
I reckon 3:27.3
Greenbank 53.5
Peaty 56.7
Guy 50.3
Scott 46.8
Very close with the United States. Too tough to call.
Unfortunately, I think the last 3 legs will be faster. They’re all going to have the relay splits of their lives, and for Guy and Scott, that’s saying something. Up against a U.S. team that has 3 underperformers (Murphy — not by a lot; whatever breastroker they put on — by a lot; and Zapple —- coming off a disappointing 100 free and a disastrous 800 free relay) and one dude who’s been great but challenged to the limit.
USA could go 3.26 with a 58 low Breatstroke leg. Not sure they have it and if Andrew has been dropped it has to be Fink.
given they’re swimming all their #2s in heats and #1s in finals (#politics) … hello MA
also can’t see them going with Fink who hasn’t done a 100 this week
edit: no Fink based on his insta post, he’s done for the week
Team GB will win no doubt about it in my eyes
very reasonable estimates imo. Would be v happy if Greenbank paces off Italy and hits his fastest of the week, then the other relay monsters can do their job
they should’ve used dressel for fly instead of free! fly seems to be the weakest stroke for the US women rn and weitzel or manuel could’ve swam the free leg instead. the scheduling of this relay was definitely problematic.
Huske literally got 4th in the 100 fly by 0.01.
Weitzeil came 8th in the 100 free final. Weitzeil and Manuel were also both just coming off the 50 free semis (where Manuel missed the final).
Just because McKeon and Zhang pulled off that double doesn’t mean that Weitzeil/Manuel could. McKeon and Zhang both have that 200 endurance background that the two American women don’t have at the moment (I know Manuel has done 200s in the past, but (a) not at the level of McKeon/Zhang and (b) she’s certainly not in that shape coming off her OTS disruption).
You’re not wrong, but you’re looking at this from the wrong angle.
The issue is not which stroke has the most depth for team USA, but which stroke has the biggest gap between the men and women. Fly has a bigger performance gap.
Congrats to GB! Great to see Kathleen and Anna interviewed later on. Was a reminder how far they’ve come after they were dropped from GB funding a few years back, all will be forgotten though!
I’m new to swimming but became a big fan during this olympics. Exciting stuff!
Do the brits train more specifically for these relays? Is it the one discipline they focus on more than others? I was shocked the Americans looked so bad. In my casual observations of past olympics my memory is they always dominate so seeing that was surprising.
GB: know their medal chances and drop individual events to focus on the Golds (Richards – entered in one indiv and didn’t start, Guy – entered in one indiv, didn’t start and is swimming like 7 relays including tmr, Hopkin – didn’t start her second indiv)
US: too many options, too many races, bad decisions, possibly politics
It’s like CY says …
Britain don’t train more for the relays – it’s not like athletics where in the sprint, relay changes can make a mediocre team into a medal challenger. Changeovers are important but there’s no hiding place if you’re not fast enough in swimming. If anything the USA have the most relay experience because of their collegiate system.
What Britain have done however is to rest their swimmers in individual events if it benefits their relay chances. It’s a pretty simple cost-benefit equation. So Britain’s team in the MMR had not swum at all in that session – whereas I think pretty much all the other teams had at least one swimmer who had swum in the… Read more »