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 4 Live Recap
Great Britain’s Tom Dean, James Guy, Matthew Richards, and Duncan Scott came within .03 of the 4×200 freestyle relay World Record to win gold on day 4 with a time of 6:58.58. The World Record was set back in 2009 by USA’s Michael Phelps, Ricky Berens, David Walters and Ryan Lochte.
This was Great Britain’s first-ever gold medal in this event and they broke the European Record, set by Russia at 6:59.15 at the 2009 World Championships by more than half a second.
You can read a full breakdown of the race here.
Hungary displayed their dominance and strength on both sides of the 200 fly with Kristof Milak winning gold and breaking Michael Phelps‘ Olympic Record from 2008.
Milak’s suit ripped while he was in the ready room and he had to change just about 10 minutes before the 200 fly final, he told reporters in his post-race interview.
He said that threw him off and that’s when he knew he would not break the World Record, but he ended up crushing the Olympic Record by about .8 anyway. His time of 1:51.25 was about half a second off his World Record from 2019.
On the women’s side, Boglarka Kapas of Hungary came within .09 her lifetime best 200 fly time from the recent European Championships to get 3rd in the semifinals.
In the women’s 1500 free final, Sarah Kohler made history by winning Germany’s first Olympic medal in pool swimming since the 2008 Olympic Games.
Her bronze-medal winning time of 15:41.91 makes her the 7th all-time fastest performer and breaks her own National Record from the 2019 World Championships by more than 6 seconds.
Quick Hits
- Italy’s Thomas Ceccon broke 48.00 for the first time in the 100 free to top USA’s Caeleb Dressel for 1st place in prelims (47.71).
- 16-year-old David Popovici of Romania improved his 48.03 100 free time in prelims to a 47.72 in semifinals for 5th place
- Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands topped 200 breast prelims half a sec off nat record where Matti Mattson came within two-tenths of his Finnish National Record for 3rd (2:08.44).
- Alessandro Miressi came within .07 of his own National Record from recent European Championships to place 3rd (47.52) in the 100 free semifinals.
- Federico Burdisso was within .2 of his Italian National Record in the 200 fly final to win bronze (1:54.45).
- Erik Persson swam a 2:08.76 in both prelims and semi’s of 200 breast, about 1.10 sec off his National Record, to ultimately claim the 8th spot going into the final.
- Great Britain’s Abbie Wood came within .11 of the podium in the 200 IM final, charging hard on the last lap. She finished with a 2:09.15
Continental and National Records on Day 4
- Jack McMillan’s leadoff split of the Irish 4×200 free relay (1:46.66) set a new National Record
- Switzerland’s relay of Antonio Djakovic, Nils Liess, Noe Ponti, and Roman Mityukov broke the National Record in 4×200 free relay (7:06.59) for 6th place in prelims. Mityukov anchored in 1:45.84.
- Switzerland broke their 4×200 free relay National Record again in finals with a 7:06.12.
- Israel’s relay of Denis Loktev, Daniel Namir, Tomer Frankel, and Gal Cohen Groumi broke 4×200 free relay National Record with a time of 7:08.65 for 10th place in prelims.
- Loktev’s lead-off split of 1:46.64 broke the Israeli 200 free National Record
- 4 European National Records fell in the men’s 800 free prelims:
- Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk won the race (7:41.28), breaking his own National Record of 7:42.49
- Germany’s Florian Wellbrock broke National Record for 2nd place (7:41.77).
- In 4th place, Felix Auboeck broke his own Austrian Record with a time of 7:45.73.
- Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen broke his National Record with a time of 7:51.65 for 14th place.
- Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov broke his own National Record of 47.31 from April by .20 to win the men’s 100 free semifinals
- Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth broke his own National Record from the recent European Championships by .03 in the men’s 100 free semifinals.
- In the 200 breast semifinals, Matti Mattson broke his Finnish National Record from the recent European Championships by .04 to place 4th (2:08.22).
- Czech Republic’s Barbora Seemanova broke her own 200 free National Record from earlier at this meet (1:56.14) by more than half a second with a time of 1:55.45 to earn 6th place.
- Sarah Kohler broke her German National Record in the 1500 freestyle final, a 15:48.43 from the 2019 World Championships, by more than 6 seconds to win bronze (15:41.91).
- Great Britain’s 4×200 freestyle relay broke both the British National Record and the European Record in finals to win gold
Europe Medals Table After Day 4
| Nation | Total Medals | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Great Britain | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| ROC | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Italy | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Was Jacob Whittle’s 48.11 an English record?
no, Scott’s 47.87 is
Imagine GB trials for worlds in 2023. Should be cut throat. Dean, Scott, Richards, Guy, Whittle and only 2 individual spots. I wonder if Guy will swim to Paris in 2024. As long as he is hitting those relay splits why not?
I have to say that Dean winning surprised me. I thought Scott had him covered as he did at trials. I guess he just got out a touch too far going with Hwang.
Yeah, I think Hwang swung the final. I feel for Scott because I think if he and Dean raced head to head 10 times, he would win nine of them. Agreed that the fist leg was disappointing from Dean – cost GB the world record.
Andy Jameson on BBC said Tom Dean should buy Hwang a drink for towing him. Not sure Hwang is legally old enough for a few beers but you get his point.
I anticipate the improvement from Matt Richards at the next world championships.
The lead off leg for the team GB was disappointing