By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
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)
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Men’s 400 Medley Relay
The U.S. men took down the 12-year-old world record in the 400 medley relay final to close out the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Sunday morning, winning gold in a time of 3:26.78 to extinguish the previous mark of 3:27.28.
Great Britain gave them a run for the win, ultimately finishing second in a European Record time of 3:27.51, and four other nations cracked 3:30.
Let’s dive into the splits.
100 BACKSTROKE LEAD-OFFS
| Swimmer | Country | Back Split |
| Ryan Murphy | USA | 52.31 |
| Thomas Ceccon | Italy | 52.52 |
| Xu Jiayu | China | 52.77 |
| Evgeny Rylov | ROC | 52.82 |
| Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 53.05 |
| Mitch Larkin | Australia | 53.19 |
| Luke Greenbank | Great Britain | 53.63 |
| Markus Thormeyer | Canada | 53.69 |
Ryan Murphy set the world record in the men’s 100 backstroke leading off the medley relay at the 2016 Olympics, and while he didn’t quite hit that time here, he still gave the Americans the early lead in 52.31. That time is essentially right on what Murphy has been going all week, with his fastest swim coming in at 52.19 in the individual event.
Thomas Ceccon put Italy in second, clocking 52.52 to fall just over two tenths shy of his National Record set earlier in the meet, while individual 100 back winner Evgeny Rylov (52.82) was more than eight tenths slower than he was individually.
Luke Greenbank was three tenths off his PB in 53.63, putting the Brits in an early 1.32-second hole.
100 BREASTSTROKE SPLITS
| Swimmer | Country | Breast Split |
| Adam Peaty | Great Britain | 56.53 |
| Nicolo Martinenghi | Italy | 58.11 |
| Yan Zibei | China | 58.35 |
| Michael Andrew | USA | 58.49 |
| Zac Stubblety-Cook | Australia | 58.67 |
| Ryuya Mura | Japan | 58.94 |
| Kirill Prigoda | ROC | 59.06 |
| Markus Thormeyer | Canada | 59.67 |
Adam Peaty dropped the fastest relay split of all-time on the breaststroke leg, recording a time of 56.53 to launch the Brits into the lead. Peaty’s previous best leg came at the 2016 Games in 56.59.
Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi, who has now split sub-58 on multiple occasions, had the second-fastest leg in 58.11, moving the Italians ahead of the U.S. at the halfway mark of the race. Michael Andrew was 58.49 for the Americans, slightly under his fastest flat-start swim from the meet (58.62).
Yan Zibei sizzled for China in 58.35, though they were ultimately disqualified.
100 BUTTERFLY SPLITS
| Swimmer | Country | Fly Split |
| Caeleb Dressel | USA | 49.03 |
| James Guy | Great Britain | 50.27 |
| Andrei Minakov | ROC | 50.31 |
| Matthew Temple | Australia | 50.78 |
| Naoki Mizunuma | Japan | 50.88 |
| Josh Liendo | Canada | 51.02 |
| Federica Burdisso | Italy | 51.07 |
| Sun Jiajun | China | DQ |
Caeleb Dressel was the difference-maker for the Americans, out-splitting GBR’s James Guy by 1.24 seconds with the fastest fly leg ever: 49.03.
Dressel’s split improves on his previous fastest-ever leg, 49.28, and gave Zach Apple a cushion on six-tenths on the free leg.
Guy split a strong 50.27, having put up what is now the seventh-fastest split ever on the mixed relay (50.00).
Andrei Minakov produced an elite time of 50.31 for the Russian Olympic Committee, while Federico Burdisso (51.07) had the field’s slowest split (not including the DQed Chinese), which loosened Italy’s grip on bronze coming into the final exchange.
100 FREESTYLE SPLITS
| Swimmer | Country | Free Split |
| Zach Apple | USA | 46.95 |
| Kyle Chalmers | Australia | 46.96 |
| Kliment Kolesnikov | ROC | 47.03 |
| Katsumi Nakamura | Japan | 47.04 |
| Duncan Scott | Great Britain | 47.08 |
| Alessandro Miressi | Italy | 47.47 |
| Yuri Kisil | Canada | 48.04 |
| He Junyi | China | DQ |
Zach Apple had a massive rebound swim after a rough split on the 4×200 free relay, throwing down a time of 46.95 to out-split everyone else in the field.
Apple was 46.69 on the 400 free relay at the beginning of the meet, also as the anchor, showing he can come up clutch when the pressure is on.
Duncan Scott had engineered an epic come-from-behind win for the Brits in this event at the 2019 World Championships, splitting 46.14 on the end, but only mustered a 47.08 here—still a fast time, though it surprisingly only ranked fifth in the elite field.
Kyle Chalmers churned out another sub-47 for the Aussies in 46.96, and Kliment Kolesnikov brought the Russians home in 47.03, but Italy’s Alessandro Miressi (47.47) did just enough to land the team it’s first-ever medal with a bronze.
Japan’s Katsumi Nakamura, who missed the 100 free semis in 17th, was also very fast in 47.04.
REACTION TIMES
| Country | Aggregate Exchanges |
| USA | 0.45 |
| Great Britain | 0.84 |
| Italy | 0.87 |
| Russia | 0.67 |
| Australia | 0.93 |
| Japan | 0.43 |
| Canada | 0.42 |
| China | DQ (not for exchange) |
The U.S. gained 39 one-hundredths on Great Britain on relay exchanges alone, with their three swimmers that had a takeover combining for a 0.45 RT. Apple had the fastest exchange for the Americans at .04.
The Canadians have been sharp all week on relay exchanges, and that trend continued here, though they were well back in seventh.
ROC gaining two tenths on Italy on exchanges was almost the difference in winning a medal, as the Italians ended up only holding on by .05.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Tokyo Relay Splits: Dressel’s 49.0 Fly Leg Leads U.S. Men To World Record
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