Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay

The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 27 and 28 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.[1] It will be the event's twenty-sixth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1908.

Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
VenueTokyo Aquatics Centre
Dates27 July 2021 (heats)
28 July 2021 (final)
Competitors73 from 16 nations
Teams16
Winning time6:58.58 ER
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)Thomas Dean, James Guy, Matthew Richards, Duncan Scott, Calum Jarvis* Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Martin Malyutin, Ivan Girev, Evgeny Rylov, Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Aleksandr Krasnykh*, Mikhail Vekovishchev* ROC
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Alexander Graham, Kyle Chalmers, Zac Incerti, Thomas Neill, Mack Horton*, Elijah Winnington*
*Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats.
 Australia
← 2016
2024 →

Great Britain entered the final as favourites, boasting the gold and silver medalists from the individual 200 metres freestyle, Tom Dean and Duncan Scott, and 2015 World champion at the distance, James Guy. Despite Dean surprisingly giving up almost a second to the United States swimmer Kieran Smith on the opening leg, the British team's cumulative depth eventually told, as they duly delivered gold in the fastest ever time in a textile suit, just three hundredth's of a second outside the world record. It was the first British win in the event since 1908.

The medals for the competition were presented by David Haggerty, United States; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Khaleel Al Jabir, Qatar; FINA Bureau Member.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record
6:58.55 Rome, Italy31 July 2009[2][3]
Olympic record
6:58.56 Beijing, China13 August 2008[4]

No new Olympic or World records were set during the competition.

Great Britain set a European record in the final, the third-fastest time ever (behind only the Olympic and World records) and the fastest time ever swum in a textile suit. Israel and Switzerland (twice) set national records.

Qualification

The 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).[5]

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.[6]

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)[1]

DateTimeRound
27 July19:58Heats
28 July12:26Final

Results

Heats

The relay teams with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.[7]

RankHeatLaneNationSwimmersTimeNotes
123  Great BritainMatthew Richards (1:46.35)
James Guy (1:44.66)
Calum Jarvis (1:45.53)
Thomas Dean (1:46.71)
7:03.25Q
224  AustraliaAlexander Graham (1:45.72)
Mack Horton (1:47.51)
Elijah Winnington (1:46.19)
Zac Incerti (1:45.58)
7:05.00Q
315  ItalyStefano Di Cola (1:47.00)
Matteo Ciampi (1:45.64)
Marco De Tullio (1:46.78)
Filippo Megli (1:45.63)
7:05.05Q
414  ROCMikhail Dovgalyuk (1:46.56)
Aleksandr Krasnykh (1:46.78)
Ivan Girev (1:45.71)
Mikhail Vekovishchev (1:46.11)
7:05.16Q
525  United StatesDrew Kibler (1:46.12)
Andrew Seliskar (1:46.17)
Patrick Callan (1:47.12)
Blake Pieroni (1:46.21)
7:05.62Q
617  SwitzerlandAntonio Djakovic (1:46.41)
Nils Liess (1:47.23)
Noè Ponti (1:47.11)
Roman Mityukov (1:45.84)
7:06.59Q, NR
722  GermanyLukas Märtens (1:47.27)
Poul Zellmann (1:45.80)
Henning Mühlleitner (1:48.11)
Jacob Heidtmann (1:45.58)
7:06.76Q
826  BrazilLuiz Altamir Melo (1:48.01)
Fernando Scheffer (1:46.09)
Murilo Sartori (1:46.76)
Breno Correia (1:46.87)
7:07.73Q
913  ChinaJi Xinjie (1:47.14)
Hong Jinquan (1:48.17)
Zhang Ziyang (1:46.89)
Wang Shun (1:46.07)
7:08.27
1011  IsraelDenis Loktev (1:46.64 NR)
Daniel Namir (1:47.41)
Tomer Frankel (1:48.19)
Gal Cohen Groumi (1:46.41)
7:08.65NR
1116  FranceJordan Pothain (1:47.30)
Hadrien Salvan (1:48.09)
Enzo Tesic (1:46.84)
Jonathan Atsu (1:46.65)
7:08.88
1227  JapanKonosuke Yanagimoto (1:48.50)
Katsuhiro Matsumoto (1:45.35)
Kosuke Hagino (1:47.90)
Kotaro Takahashi (1:47.78)
7:09.53
1321  South KoreaLee Yoo-yeon (1:49.55)
Hwang Sun-woo (1:48.88)
Kim Woo-min (1:49.24)
Lee Ho-joon (1:47.36)
7:15.03
1428  IrelandJack McMillan (1:46.66 NR)
Finn McGeever (1:48.46)
Brendan Hyland (1:51.28)
Shane Ryan (1:49.08)
7:15.48
1518  PolandKacper Majchrzak (1:49.32)
Jakub Kraska (1:47.94)
Kamil Sieradzki (1:50.44)
Radosław Kawęcki (1:51.21)
7:18.91
12  HungaryBalázs Holló (1:47.41)
Gabor Zombori (1:47.27)
Dominik Kozma
Richárd Márton
DSQ

Final

[8]

RankLaneNationSwimmersTimeNotes
4  Great BritainThomas Dean (1:45.72)
James Guy (1:44.40)
Matthew Richards (1:45.01)
Duncan Scott (1:43.45)
6:58.58ER
6  ROCMartin Malyutin (1:45.69)
Ivan Girev (1:45.63)
Evgeny Rylov (1:45.26)
Mikhail Dovgalyuk (1:45.23)
7:01.81
5  AustraliaAlexander Graham (1:46.00)
Kyle Chalmers (1:45.35)
Zac Incerti (1:45.75)
Thomas Neill (1:44.74)
7:01.84
42  United StatesKieran Smith (1:44.74)
Drew Kibler (1:45.51)
Zach Apple (1:47.31)
Townley Haas (1:44.87)
7:02.43
53  ItalyStefano Ballo (1:45.77)
Matteo Ciampi (1:45.88)
Filippo Megli (1:45.33)
Stefano Di Cola (1:46.26)
7:03.24
67  SwitzerlandAntonio Djakovic (1:45.77 NR)
Nils Liess (1:47.74)
Noè Ponti (1:46.93)
Roman Mityukov (1:45.68)
7:06.12NR
71  GermanyLukas Märtens (1:46.68)
Poul Zellmann (1:46.30)
Henning Mühlleitner (1:48.04)
Jacob Heidtmann (1:45.49)
7:06.51
88  BrazilFernando Scheffer (1:45.93)
Murilo Sartori (1:46.09)
Breno Correia (1:48.11)
Luiz Altamir Melo (1:48.09)
7:08.22

References