Paris Olympics, Day 4 Prelims: Great Britain Sets Up 800 Free Relay Title Defense; Nine Teams Advance to Final After Eighth-Place Tie
Three years ago, Great Britain won its first Olympic gold medal in a swimming relay in more than a decade. In Paris, the same quartet from that gold-medal team is likely to return intact and aim to repeat its finish. The British men will enter the 800 free relay final as favorites, with the second and fourth-place finishers from the individual 200 free set to join the team in the final.
In prelims, the top qualifying time belonged to the Brits at 7:05.11, less than a half-second clear of the United States. James Guy led off in 1:45.04, a time which would have placed fifth in the individual final, and Jack McMillan followed with an impressive 1:45.68. Kieran Bird (1:47.68) and Tom Dean (1:46.71) finished things off.
The time was Guy’s personal best, lowering a nine-year-old time he recorded at the 2015 World Championships, when Guy won gold in the 200 free gold.
“It’s just great,” Guy said. “I think just doing the right training. I’ve swum some great results in training the last year and I knew that I was going to swim fast in terms of my freestyle it’s just been proven what I have been seeing in the (training) pool. Clearly what I’m doing with Ryan Livingstone is working so thanks to him and the Millfield guys for getting me back to where I used to be.”
Entering the field at night will be 200 free silver medalist Matt Richards and fourth-place finisher Duncan Scott, who both clocked 1:44s in the final. Guy is certain to return, while Dean is likely. The Olympic gold medalist in the 200 free in Tokyo, Dean narrowly missed a spot in the individual event, but the British coaches will likely trust his year-to-year consistency (and threat of a 1:43 split) in the final over the more inexperienced McMillan.
On the finals lineup the Brits will deploy, Guy said, “Not yet. We have an idea but the coaches will do all that and talk over that all now. Even this morning we were skeptical about resting two; we don’t know the order, nothing, that is all to be discussed now and later we’ll find out what’s happening.”
- World Record: United States (Phelps, Berens, Walters, Lochte) – 6:58.55 (2009)
- Olympic Record: United States (Phelps, Lochte, Berens, Vanderkaay) – 6:58.56 (2008)
- Tokyo Olympic Champion: Great Britain (Dean, Guy, Richards, Scott) – 6:58.58
In the final, the Brits will chase the world record of 6:58.55 set by the United States in 2009. The team finished just three hundredths off that mark in Tokyo and can reach that standard if everything comes together at night.
The United States will seek to return to the medal podium after fading in the final four years ago, becoming the first American relay ever to compete at the Games and miss the podium. Three swimmers from that ill-fated squad are back here, with Drew Kibler handling the leadoff leg in the morning and Blake Pieroni (prelims only in 2021) going third while Kieran Smith is likely to join the roster in the final.
The American grouping of Kibler, Brooks Curry, Pieroni and Chris Guiliano won their heat in 7:05.57, but it required plenty of work to overtake Germany and hold off France down the stretch. Kibler clocked 1:46.43 on the opening leg, followed by Curry’s 1:45.96, Pieroni’s 1:46.44 and Guiliano’s 1:46.44.
Luke Hobson, the bronze medalist in the individual 200 free, is sure to join the group in the evening, as is 400 IM bronze medalist Carson Foster, who split 1:43.94 on this relay at the Doha World Championships in February. Smith, who usually delivers 1:44 splits on this relay, is likely, and then the U.S. coaches would likely choose between Kibler and Curry for the last spot. If all goes well, that team could challenge the Brits, but a podium finish looks highly probable.
A 1:45.22 anchor leg from France’s Roman Fuchs was enough to put the French into the third spot overall. Hadrien Salvan, Amazigh Yebba and Yann le Goff provided the first three legs of that relay. Leon Marchand would be a possibility to swim at night but that is less likely with Marchand also racing the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke.
Australia took fourth in 7:05.63. Kai Taylor and Zac Incerti recorded 1:47s to open the race before Flynn Southam split 1:45.62 and Thomas Neill 1:45.36 to close it out. Max Giuliani, a finalist in the individual event, will join the group at night, but Kyle Chalmers told reporters after the 100 free prelims that he will not, preferring to focus on his individual 100 free.
Germany, with Lukas Martens leading off in 1:45.66, got the fifth seed in 7:06.20, followed by China at 7:07.72. The Chinese team is likely to add Pan Zhanle at night. Korea finished seventh in 7:07.96 without requiring the services of Hwang Sunwoo, who sill surely substitute in for the final. Kim Woomin went 1:45.59 to anchor the Koreans in qualifying.
Finally, there was a tie for eighth place between Japan and Israel, and rather than requiring a swim-off, both nations will race in the final, which is the norm under World Aquatics rules for longer races. Both teams clocked 7:08.43 in prelims, with Katsuhiro Matsumoto going 1:45.77 for Japan and Gal Cohen Groumi splitting 1:45.57 for the Israeli team. One of those teams will draw lane eight and the other lane one.
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- DAY 2 FINALS RESULTS
- DAY 3 PRELIMS RESULTS
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- DAY 4 PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY 4 FINALS HEAT SHEET
- DAY 8 PRELIMS HEAT SHEET
- DAY 5 PRELIMS HEAT SHEET
- DAY 6 PRELIMS HEAT SHEET
- DAY 7 PRELIMS HEAT SHEET
Many congrats to Guy for his first PB in 9 years – that’s perseverance! It is a bit ironic if Dean gets chosen for his experience / consistency after Tokyo. A day after his victory he was much slower (and beaten by a few) leading off the relay. It cost them the WR. Just goes to show how transient Olympic Gold is – not just a 4 year pinnacle but it is just who is the best on one day at one particular instant! One race should not define a career, for better or worse!