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The Best Men’s Performances in Swimming from the Tokyo Olympics (Race Videos)
Fourteen individual men’s races produced gold medalists at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre, and each one of those champions had a story. It’s hard to compare so many different races when each of the winners are achieving the best results of their lives in the process, but a few of the races really moved the needle and inspired fans watching around the world.
Three of those gold medals now belong to a man considered the best swimmer in the world for a full four years (Caeleb Dressel), while a consistent Russian backstroker (Evgeny Rylov) and a breakout American distance freestyler (Bobby Finke) were responsible for two apiece. Stars such as Adam Peaty and Kristof Milak won gold, and while the meet brought its share of surprises, none were as unexpected as an 18-year-old from Tunisia taking gold in the men’s 400 freestyle. And that is where we begin out ranking of the top five men’s performances of the Tokyo Olympics.
5. Ahmed Hafnaoui Out of Nowhere
The three longer freestyle races in Tokyo all produced shocking winners, but Bobby Finke was at least on the radar as a possible medalist. Ahmed Hafnaoui was not. Before the Olympics, the 18-year-old from Tunisia had never competed at any major international meet except for the 2018 Short Course World Championships, where his highest finish was 17th. Hafnaoui was seeded 16th in the 400 freestyle in 3:46.06, and he dropped a half-second from that time to sneak into the final in lane eight. Then, he went out strong, and as the race unfolded in surprising fashion, Hafnaoui kept pace with Australian Jack McLoughlin. McLoughlin led with 50 meters to go, but Hafnaoui finished in 27.23 to get into the wall 0.16 ahead of the Aussie. His final time of 3:43.36 was a best time by more than two seconds, and Hafnaoui became the second Tunisian man to earn an Olympic medal in swimming following Ous Mellouli, the 2008 gold medalist in the 1500 free and the 2012 champion in the 10K open water race.
4. Kristof Milak Secures Gold in Dominant 200 Fly
Kristof Milak winning gold in the men’s 200 butterfly was one of the foregone conclusions of the Olympics. At the 2019 World Championships, he broke Michael Phelps’ world record in the event with a 1:50.73 to win by a massive three seconds, and prior to the Olympics, the 21-year-old from Hungary swam under Phelps’ previous record of 1:51.51 on two occasions. A sub-1:50 performance seemed to be on the table for the Olympics. The only thing that could stop Milak, apparently, was a suit malfunction. His suit ripped, and he had to change into a new one just minutes before the final, which apparently broke his focus. So Milak was not perfect — but he still ripped off a 1:51.25, the third-fastest mark in history behind two of his own previous performances, to break Phelps’ Olympic record and claim his first Olympic gold medal. His margin of victory was again overwhelming: 2.48 seconds, bigger than any gap in Phelps’ three Olympic wins in this event and all but one of Phelps’ five World Championships wins. All this in a race that was far from Milak’s best.
3. U.S. Men Cap Meet with Medley Relay World Record
The American men were coming off a few disappointing performances in relays after the 800 freestyle relay finished fourth and the mixed 400 medley relay took fifth. Those were the first two occasions that an American relay had ever participated in an Olympic race and not made the podium. In the meet-ending 400 medley relay, the U.S. men looked like slight underdogs to Great Britain, which boasted world-record holder Adam Peaty on the breaststroke leg and then butterflyer James Guy and freestyler Duncan Scott. At the 2019 World Championships, Scott split 46.14 on the anchor leg to run down and pass the Americans. Then, the Americans barely qualified for the medley relay final, only getting in as as the seventh seed. So the U.S. needed everything to go perfectly to win gold in a medley relay they had never lost. And it did: backstroker Ryan Murphy had the top leadoff leg with his 52.31, Michael Andrew rebounded from a far-from-perfect Olympic debut to split 58.49 on breaststroke, Caeleb Dressel was magnificent on butterfly with his 49.03 split that ranks as the fastest in history, and Zach Apple pulled away from Scott by splitting 46.95 to nail down gold. The Americans finished in 3:26.78, seven tenths ahead of Great Britain, and they took down a 12-year-old world record set by a U.S. team at the supersuit World Championships of 2009.
You can watch the video of this race on YouTube.
2. Bobby Finke’s Astonishing Triumphs
Before the Olympics, Bobby Finke was a medal contender for the distance races, particularly the 1500 freestyle. After his impressive 14:46.06 in the 1500 free at Okympic Trials, maybe he could break up the assumed podium of Gregorio Paltrinieri, Florian Wellbrock and Mykhailo Romanchuk (in some order), particularly since Paltrinieri was coming off a bout of mononucleosis. But winning gold in both the 800 free and the 1500 free by out-splitting his European rivals by massive margins? No way! Finke was in fourth place at the last turn in the 800 free, more than a second out of third place. He then split 26.39 on the way home (when no one else was under 28.00) to run down all three men and claim gold. And he followed up that enormous surprise by doing the same thing in the 1500, although at least his rivals and the rest of the world knew it might be coming this time. Finke was in third place with one length to go in the mile, seven tenths behind leader Wellbrock, and he finished in 25.78 to leave the field in the dust.
The video of Finke’s 800 free race is below, and you can watch his 1500 free on YouTube.
1. Dressel Needs Every Inch of World Record to Secure 100 Fly Gold
We have finally come to Caeleb Dressel’s amazing individual slate from Tokyo. Dressel could have made this list for his 100 freestyle gold medal, when he went out fast and held on to hold off defending champion Kyle Chalmers by six hundredths. He could easily qualify for his dominant 50 freestyle win, where his margin of victory was more than double the previous largest margin ever. Simply by earning three individual gold medals, Dressel was amazing since only Mark Spitz (1972) and Michael Phelps (2004 and 2008) had been the only men to ever top the podium three or more times individually in one Games. But we will recognize Dressel’s 100 butterfly, where he clipped his own world record and barely held off Hungary’s Kristof Milak.
After Milak’s aforementioned dominant triumph in the 200 fly, he turned his focus to the 100 fly. In the final, he was in second place at the 50-meter mark before splitting 26.03 on the second length, the quickest mark ever on that lap (including faster than any Phelps splits). Milak swam a 49.68, breaking Milorad Cavic’s European record and swimming faster than anyone in history behind Dressel. But Dressel, despite very long touches on both the turn and the finish, was just a little bit better, swimming a time of 49.45 for gold, a new world record and the top performance by a male swimmer at the Olympics.
Honorable Mentions: Picking the tough five races of an outstanding Olympics is tough. Just as with the women’s top five performances, a lot of amazing swims were omitted from this top five. How about Evgeny Rylov’s two impressive wins in the backstroke events or Wang Shun’s stunning 200 IM victory, a swim which made him the third-fastest man in history? Tom Dean and Duncan Scott provided one of British Swimming’s finest ever moments with a 1-2 finish in the men’s 200 freestyle, and we certainly take Adam Peaty’s 100 breast dominance for granted. Zac Stubblety-Cook was not at his absolute best in the 200 breaststroke, but he was the only one of the primary contenders that showed up to Tokyo close to top form. And in the freestyle relays, the U.S. men’s victory in the 400-meter race saw Zach Apple punctuate the gold with a 46.69 anchor split, and Great Britain earned its first relay gold medal in more than a century in the 800 free relay.
I have to put Bobby Finke’s 1500 at #1, sorry Caeleb (and David). A 25.7 to finish a 1500? Check Phelp’s swims in the 200; he never hit 25.7. Who did? Paul Biedermann’s tech-suit world record 200 free was a 25.7 on the last 50. That’s a 200 Free. Finke’s swim isn’t just astonishing, it’s absolutely unreal.
I agree! What Bobby Finke did was surreal! Congratulations!! He made the Gator Nation so proud!!???
These are great swims, but Bobby Finke’s 1500 is at the top, not his 800. His close in the 800 was 26.3, but in the 1500 it was 25.7. How fast is that? Phelps never finished a 200 free in 25.7. The fastest finish in a 200 was Biedermann’s tech-suit WR and it was…25.7. So, for Finke to finish that way, dusting the two swimmers ahead of him, was truly astonishing. I’d be interested to know if any other swimmer has ever finished a race longer than 100m any faster than that.