Paris Olympics, Day 8 Prelims: France Leads China, United States Into High-Stakes 400 Medley Relay Final

France's Leon Marchand -- Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Paris Olympics, Day 8 Prelims: France Leads China, United States Into High-Stakes 400 Medley Relay Final

The host nation will chase its first relay medal of the Olympics and perhaps gold. In the men’s 400 medley relay prelims, France recorded the top time at 3:31.36, holding off China down the stretch. France swam a team of Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, four-time gold-medal winner Leon Marchand, Clement Secchi and Rafael Fente-Damers in prelims. Marchand’s first relay swim of the meet resulted in a 59.03 clocking on the breaststroke leg.

The French team will return Ndoye-Brouard and Marchand for the final while Maxime Grousset will likely handle the butterfly leg. Fente-Damers swam well in prelims, but France is likely to turn to Florent Manaudou to finish off the finals relay. Manaudou, who won bronze in the 50 free Friday evening for his fourth consecutive Olympic medal in the event, clocked 47.90 at France’s Trials earlier this year.

China finished just behind France in 3:31.58 with a team of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Wang Changhao and Pan Zhanle, the same group that almost broke the world record in the event at last year’s Asian Games. Qin clocked 58.51 on breaststroke while Pan cruised home in 47.74, well off the flat-start world record of 47.74 he set Wednesday.

World Record: United States (Murphy, Andrew, Dressel, Apple) – 3:26.78 (2021)
Olympic Record: United States (Murphy, Andrew, Dressel, Apple) – 3:26.78 (2021)
Tokyo Olympic Champion: United States (Murphy, Andrew, Dressel, Apple) – 3:26.78

In the second heat, the United States recorded the third-fastest qualifying mark despite swimming almost an entirely different squad than the one which will race in the final. Hunter Armstrong, Charlie Swanson, Thomas Heilman and Jack Alexy combined for a mark of 3:31.62. Veterans Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink and Caeleb Dressel will come in Sunday evening, and we’ll see if Alexy returns after his 47.48 anchor split or if the Americans turn to Chris Guiliano or perhaps even Armstrong.

“Pretty good. I’m happy with it. I just wanted to get the job done for the finals relay. We all did that, and I’m happy with that swim,” Alexy said. “I’m one of those swimmers that didn’t have a great individual swim, but it’s all about experiencing that process, turning that around. When we’re selected for a relay prelim like this, it’s all about getting the team through to the finals, and I think we all did a great job doing that.”

The Netherlands finished fourth overall in 3:31.80 thanks to sizzling middle splits from Caspar Corbeau (58.94 on breaststroke) and Nyls Korstanje (50.27 on butterfly), while Great Britain, with Adam Peaty returning from his bout with COVID to swim the breaststroke leg, placed fifth in 3:32.13. Australia got sixth in 3:32.24 with Kyle Chalmers anchoring in 47.79. Chalmers was the silver medalist in the 100 free, and he lifted his team to 400 free relay silver with his 46.59 anchor leg.

Rounding out the final were teams from Canada (3:32.33) and Germany (3:32.51). Canada’s Ilya Kharun split 50.40 on butterfly and Javier Acevedo closed in 47.76, but expect Josh Liendo to enter for one of those men in the final. In a surprise, Italy missed the final despite swimming Olympic champions on the first two legs. Thomas Ceccon swam one-and-a-half seconds slower than his 100 back winning time, and Nicolo Martinenghi and co. could not claw their way back into the field, finishing two tenths behind Germany.

Composite Relay Analysis

A compelling race for the medals will include six teams, each entering with one significant weakness on paper. Leading off for China will be Xu Jiayu, a 28-year-old veteran who grabbed silver in the 100 backstroke, while Pan Zhanle, the only world-record breaker so far in Paris, will swim the anchor leg on his 20th birthday. China’s obvious weakness is butterfly, with Wang Changhao posting the country’s top time this year at 51.20, but he struggled significantly in the individual event here, clocking 52.37 and finishing behind teammate Sun Jiajun (51.85).

And what will China get from Qin Haiyang on breaststroke? Anything approximating the 57.69 he swam at last year’s Worlds, and China runs away with gold. But Qin has massively struggled in Tokyo, falling to seventh in the 100 breast and missing the final of the 200 breast entirely.

The Americans’ massive changes for finals bring in some key veterans, but each one comes with questions. Can Murphy replicate the 52.39 he swam to win bronze in the 100 back after fading in the 200-meter race and missing the final? Fink impressed with silver in the 100 breast but has not competed since last Sunday. Dressel clocked 50.83 in the 100 fly prelims and 50.10 in heats of the U.S. mixed medley relay team before he fell apart in the semifinals and missed the final.

The host country will be positioned to make a real run at gold, as demonstrated in prelims. With Marchand entering on breaststroke plus top-notch legs in Ndoye-Brouard (back) and Grousset (fly), the X-factor is Manaudou. If he can replicate the form he showed at the French Trials earlier this year, when he clocked 47.90 in the 100 free prelims, that might be sufficient to win gold.

Great Britain finally has the backstroke leg figured out with Morgan, and Peaty will surely be excellent on breaststroke, but butterfly is an X-factor with James Guy, who handled that leg on silver-medal teams at the last two Olympics, struggling in the individual event Friday. Australia will have a strong back half but is weak on backstroke. A strong prelims leg by Joshua Yong likely secured his spot to return in the final.

Below is the analysis of relays using composite times recorded thus far in Paris. Top relay splits from Marchand, Yong and Litchfield are utilized here, as are season-best times from Wang, Manaudou and Temple (qualified for Saturday’s final) are used here.

China: Xu 52.02 + Qin 58.93 + Wang 51.20 + Pan 46.40 = 3:28.55
France: Ndoye-Brouard 52.42 + Marchand 59.03 + Grousset 50.41 + Manaudou 47.90 = 3:29.76
United States: Murphy 52.39 + Fink 59.05 + Dressel 50.83 + Alexy 47.57 = 3:29.84
Australia: Cooper 53.46 + Yong 58.99 + Temple 50.61 + Chalmers 47.48 = 3:30.52
Great Britain: Morgan 52.84 + Peaty 58.85 + Litchfield 51.37 + Richards 47.83 = 3:30.90

Even with the times suggesting a Chinese advantage, that counts on two major wild-card performers coming through in a way they have not thus far in Paris. France will have the crowd in full support, while the Americans, undefeated in this relay in the Olympics, need the veterans to come through one more time. The pieces are assembled for a wild final.

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