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 2 Finals Heat Sheet
Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay
The United States men clocked their fastest 4×100 free relay since 2008, coming within .73 of their World Record set at the Beijing Olympics. Caeleb Dressel got the Americans off to a strong start with the fastest lead-off split in the field. His 47.26 tied for his 4th-fastest 100 free ever. Dressel is the top seed in the individual event at Tokyo with an entry time of 46.96, which is just .05 off Cesar Cielo’s World Record of 46.91.
Maxime Grousset of France posted the second-fastest lead-off with 47.52. It was his best performance by .37. Andrei Minakov from the Russian Olympic Committee went 47.71, edging Alessandro Miressi of Italy by .01.
Lead-off Splits
| Swimmer | Country | Split |
| Caeleb Dressel | USA | 47.26 |
| Maxime Grousset | France | 47.52 |
| Andrei Minakov | Russian Olympic Committee | 47.71 |
| Alessandro Miressi | Italy | 47.72 |
| Brent Hayden | Canada | 47.99 |
| Matthew Temple | Australia | 48.07 |
| Kristof Milak | Hungary | 48.24 |
| Breno Correia | Brazil | 48.69 |
Szebasztian Szabo of Hungary was the fastest in the 2nd position, splitting 47.44. Italy’s Thomas Ceccon was only .01 slower with 47.45. Florent Manaudou’s 47.62 pulled France into second place behind USA at the 200 meter mark. France swapped Manaudou for Charles Rihoux, who went 48.27 in prelims.
Kyle Chalmers and Zach Apple put up the 5th and 11th relay splits all-time with 46.44 and 46.69, respectively. Both swam in the anchor position. Chalmers helped Australia claim the bronze medal, knocking Canada, Hungary, and France out of contention. Apple kept the Americans solidly in front of runner-up Italy with his finish. Bowe Becker (47.44) and Blake Pieroni (47.58) had solid performances for USA, with the 5th and 11th best times of the morning.
Italy’s Ceccon, Lorenzo Zazzeri, and Manuel Frigo solidified Italy’s silver-medal performance with their 47-mids.
Canada’s best split came from Yuri Kisil, whose 47.15 was the 3rd-fastest in the field. Josh Liendo, swimming in the 2nd slot, went 47.51 for the 8th-fastest time overall.
Flying Splits
| Swimmer | Country | Split |
| Kyle Chalmers | Australia | 46.44 |
| Zach Apple | USA | 46.69 |
| Yuri Kisil | Canada | 47.15 |
| Lorenzo Zazzeri | Italy | 47.31 |
| Bowe Becker | USA | 47.44 |
| Szebasztian Szabo | Hungary | 47.44 |
| Thomas Ceccon | Italy | 47.45 |
| Josh Liendo | Canada | 47.51 |
| Zac Incerti | Australia | 47.55 |
| Nandor Nemeth | Hungary | 47.57 |
| Blake Pieroni | USA | 47.58 |
| Florent Manaudou | France | 47.62 |
| Manuel Frigo | Italy | 47.63 |
| Marcelo Chierighini | Brazil | 47.72 |
| Richard Bohus | Hungary | 47.81 |
| Mehdy Metella | France | 47.94 |
| Vladislav Grinev | Russian Olympic Committee | 47.94 |
| Clement Mignon | France | 48.01 |
| Vlad Morozov | Russian Olympic Committee | 48.15 |
| Alexander Graham | Australia | 48.16 |
| Markus Thormeyer | Canada | 48.17 |
| Pedro Spajari | Brazil | 48.24 |
| Kliment Kolesnikov | Russian Olympic Committee | 48.40 |
| Gabriel Santos | Brazil | 48.76 |
Chalmers is a beast.
Anyone have a link as to where the fastest relay splits are? Like the fastest all-time…Lezak, (Chmers now 5th) etc…
For just $199 Swimswam will send you a link!
https://www.usaswimming.org/times/data-hub/all-time-relay-splits
Wish we had more references to ‘2nd fastest textile swim of all-time’ rather than just ‘5th fastest’.
Does Dressel not quite get as amped for the relays as he does his individuals? I have no doubt he has a 46 in the tank but he’s seemed consistently a smidge slower in the relays than he is individually even since college.
I think it’s the opposite, he gets a little too amped and then goes out a little too hard
I think Troy makes it so he starts off the meet a bit tired so as the week goes on he gets natural rest. Makes sense when he doesn’t really start the meet until mid week when he needs to start peaking.
is it me or does Chalmers look like he does a really slow relay turnover compared to some of the others. Not so much reaction time, but the two feet together follow them in type start…
The US went 3:08.97 but could you imagine if they had Ryan Held on his 47.39 form.
He could’ve gone sub 47 split too. Two 46 splits and Dressel going 47.2 and they’d have been close.
And Dean Farris went 47.0 in 2019, imagine what could have been if both of them had maintained that form.
Could of, would have, should have…So happy for the guys who did show up at trials and won GOLD last night!
Ryan Held swam a 46.99 in budapest 2022
46.4 has to be one of the most impressive splits of all time considering most of those ahead of him seem to have had a ride off someone or a super suit.
Or both.
I’ll take Scott’s 46.1 to reel in Adrian as my personal favorite. It’s a shame GBR didn’t put him on the relay for prelims but we should get to see him on the medley again to see what he’s got in him this year, considering he opted for the IM over the 100 individually.
FYI Next year GB will have the following team:
Duncan Scott (has split sub 47 many times).
Matt Richards (18 years old and split 48.2 on lead-off).
Jacob Whittle (16 years old and split 47.5 on anchor).
Tom Dean (48.30 flat start and is only 21).
Someone didn’t make the final.
We wouldn’t have won a medal this year anyway so doesn’t matter that much. Rests Scott and Dean for the 200. Richards and Whittle are very young. GB will be contenders in the next three years.
They certainly learned their lesson the hard way.
But to cite them missing the final as an indictment of their potential in the future is laughably dumb
Scorned Pom.