Men’s 4×100 Free Relay
Caeleb Dressel got things started with a new American Record in the 100 free in the final of the 4×100 free relay at 45.66, breaking the hours old record that was set by Ryan Held in the heats of the relay. Dressel moved up to 11th all-time in the 100 free with his swim.
Dressel was followed by Blake Pieroni (45.75), Michael Chadwick (45.86) and Ryan Held (45.76) as those four broke the nine-year-old world record in the 4×100 free relay at 3:03.03. The United States held that world record from all the way back in the 2009 Duel in the Pool. They broke the record that was held by Nathan Adrian (45.08), Matt Grevers (44.68), Garrett Weber-Gale (47.43) and Michael Phelps (46.11).
Dressel, Pieroni and Held were all in the same graduating class coming out of high school and college (2014, 2018), while Chadwick was a year before them.
Held(on whether they thought a world record was possible): “We knew this was our event, our time to shine in short-course meters. We knew it was definitely possible, so we had it in the back our mind while racing. The girls set the standard high and got the ball rolling, got momentum going. We just had to follow suit.”
Chadwick (on winning gold and setting a world record with this group of teammates): “It’s a great honor. We’ve been friends for about four years now. We’ve raced each other many times at NCAAs … We couldn’t be closer friends and it’s pretty awesome to be able to do that together.”
Held held off Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov to get the gold medal and the world record for Team USA. Kolesnikov (45.46) and Vladimir Morozov (45.06) had impressive splits on the back half but it was not enough to catch the Americans. Vladislav Grinev (46.38), Sergei Fesikov (46.21), Kolesnikov and Morozov were also under the old world record at 3:03.11. That is the second time tonight that the silver medal winner was under the world record, but will not be recognized as the world record holder for obvious reasons.
Brazil finished with the bronze medal at 3:05.15 with Matheus Santana (46.83), Marcelo Chierighini (46.37), Cesar Cielo (46.340 and Breno Correia (45.61). Those four held off the Italians (3:05.20), who finished in fourth. Notably, the Italians were led off by Santo Condorelli (46.76), who has represented Canada for the last few years, including at the 2016 Olympics. Condorelli is now racing internationally for Italy.
Australia (3:06.49), Japan (3:07.87), China (3:10.55) and Belarus (3:10.59) also swam in the final.
