| | Event type

4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	27 – 28 July 2021
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympic Aquatics Centre, 2-1, 2chome, Tatsumi, Koto-ku, Tatsumi-no-Mori Seaside Park, Tokyo, Japan
Participants	73 from 16 countries

Australia and Great Britain had won the last two World Championships and they were expected to battle for gold. The United States, always strong in relays, was the likely other contender for medals. The preliminary round did nothing to change that as Great Britain led the heats by almost two seconds, with Australia qualifying second, Italy third, and the United States back in fifth.

The final seemed more of the same as Kieran Smith put the USA in the lead at the first exchange, with Britain’s James Guy then taking over to put the Brits into first at 400 metres, with the USA still second. The USA had picked Zach Apple for the third leg, which may have been a mistake as he already swum the 100 freestyle semi-final earlier in the day. He struggled on the third leg, as Great Britain’s Matt Richards gave them an insurmountable lead going into the anchor, and the USA entered the final exchange only in fifth place.

Great Britain won the gold medal in dominant fashion, with Duncan Scott swimming the fastest leg of the event (1:43.87) as they won by over three seconds and just missed the world record. The biggest surprise came in second place as the Russian Olympic Committee team edged out Australia for the silver medal.

The United States, with Townley Haas, finished in a historic fourth place. It was only historic because it was the first time that the USA had entered a relay event at the Olympics and had not won a medal. There was criticism of the USA coaches’ decision to not enter Caeleb Dressel in the 4x2 relay, notably coming from Michael Phelps, who was doing commentary for NBC Television.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	Great Britain	GBR	7:03.25 (1 h2)	6:58.58 (1)	Gold
	Tom Dean • James Guy • Matt Richards • Duncan Scott • Calum Jarvis
2	ROC	ROC	7:05.16 (2 h1)	7:01.81 (2)	Silver
	Martin Malyutin • Ivan Giryov • Yevgeny Rylov • Mikhail Dovgalyuk • Aleksandr Krasnykh • Mikhail Vekovishchev
3	Australia	AUS	7:05.00 (2 h2)	7:01.84 (3)	Bronze
	Alex Graham • Kyle Chalmers • Zac Incerti • Thomas Neill • Mack Horton • Elijah Winnington
4	United States	USA	7:05.62 (3 h2)	7:02.43 (4)
	Kieran Smith • Drew Kibler • Zach Apple • Townley Haas • Andrew Seliskar • Patrick Callan • Blake Pieroni
5	Italy	ITA	7:05.05 (1 h1)	7:03.24 (5)
	Stefano Ballo • Matteo Ciampi • Filippo Megli • Stefano Di Cola • Marco De Tullio
6	Switzerland	SUI	7:06.59 (3 h1)	7:06.12 (6)
	Antonio Djakovic • Nils Liess • Noè Ponti • Roman Mityukov
7	Germany	GER	7:06.76 (4 h2)	7:06.51 (7)
	Lukas Märtens • Poul Zellmann • Henning Mühlleitner • Jacob Heidtmann
8	Brazil	BRA	7:07.73 (5 h2)	7:08.22 (8)
	Fernando Scheffer • Murilo Sartori • Breno Correia • Luiz Altamir
9	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:08.27 (4 h1)	–
	Ji Xinjie • Hong Jinquan • Zhang Ziyang • Wang Shun
10	Israel	ISR	7:08.65 (5 h1)	–
	Denis Loktev • Daniel Namir • Tomer Frankel • Gal Cohen Groumi
11	France	FRA	7:08.88 (6 h1)	–
	Jordan Pothain • Hadrien Salvan • Enzo Tesic • Jonathan Atsu
12	Japan	JPN	7:09.53 (6 h2)	–
	Konosuke Yanagimoto • Katsuhiro Matsumoto • Kosuke Hagino • Kotaro Takahashi
13	Republic of Korea	KOR	7:15.03 (7 h2)	–
	Lee Yu-Yeon • Hwang Seon-U • Kim U-Min • Lee Ho-Jun
14	Ireland	IRL	7:15.48 (8 h2)	–
	Jack McMillan • Finn McGeever • Brendan Hyland • Shane Ryan
15	Poland	POL	7:18.91 (7 h1)	–
	Kacper Majchrzak • Jakub Kraska • Kamil Sieradzki • Radosław Kawęcki
DQ	Hungary	HUN	– (DQ h1)	–
	Balázs Holló • Gábor Zombori • Dominik Kozma • Richárd Márton

Round One

Date	27 July 2021 — 19:58

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:03.25	Q
2	–	Australia	AUS	7:05.00	Q
3	–	Italy	ITA	7:05.05	Q
4	–	ROC	ROC	7:05.16	Q
5	–	United States	USA	7:05.62	Q
6	–	Switzerland	SUI	7:06.59	Q
7	–	Germany	GER	7:06.76	Q
8	–	Brazil	BRA	7:07.73	Q
9	–	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:08.27
10	–	Israel	ISR	7:08.65
11	–	France	FRA	7:08.88
12	–	Japan	JPN	7:09.53
13	–	Republic of Korea	KOR	7:15.03
14	–	Ireland	IRL	7:15.48
15	–	Poland	POL	7:18.91
DQ	–	Hungary	HUN	–

Heat #1

Time	19:58

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Italy	ITA	7:05.05	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Stefano Di Cola		–	0.67	25.50	52.72	1:20.02	1:47.00 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Matteo Ciampi		–	0.26	24.61	51.39	1:18.63	1:45.64 (1)	3:32.64 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Marco De Tullio		–	0.37	25.01	52.01	1:19.21	1:46.78 (2)	5:19.42 (2)
Anchor	–	Filippo Megli		–	0.14	23.87	50.76	1:18.10	1:45.63 (1)	– (–)
2	–	ROC	ROC	7:05.16	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Mikhail Dovgalyuk		–	0.74	25.31	52.24	1:19.47	1:46.56 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Aleksandr Krasnykh		–	0.28	24.51	51.45	1:18.97	1:46.78 (2)	3:33.34 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Ivan Giryov		–	0.10	23.95	50.75	1:18.07	1:45.71 (1)	5:19.05 (1)
Anchor	–	Mikhail Vekovishchev		–	0.30	24.22	51.01	1:18.33	1:46.11 (4)	– (–)
3	–	Switzerland	SUI	7:06.59	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Antonio Djakovic		–	0.66	24.66	51.46	1:19.01	1:46.41 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Nils Liess		–	-0.02	24.27	50.99	1:18.71	1:47.23 (3)	3:33.64 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Noè Ponti		–	0.30	24.88	52.02	1:19.87	1:47.11 (5)	5:20.75 (3)
Anchor	–	Roman Mityukov		–	0.37	24.64	51.29	1:18.48	1:45.84 (2)	– (–)
4	–	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:08.27	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Ji Xinjie		–	0.68	25.44	52.41	1:19.93	1:47.14 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Hong Jinquan		–	0.12	24.03	51.19	1:19.66	1:48.17 (8)	3:35.31 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Zhang Ziyang		–	0.06	25.09	52.34	1:19.87	1:46.89 (4)	5:22.20 (5)
Anchor	–	Wang Shun		–	0.27	23.90	50.84	1:18.87	1:46.07 (3)	– (–)
5	–	Israel	ISR	7:08.65	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Denis Loktev		–	0.60	24.57	51.29	1:19.01	1:46.64 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Daniel Namir		–	0.28	24.42	51.39	1:19.16	1:47.41 (5)	3:34.05 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Tomer Frankel		–	0.17	24.36	51.73	1:19.83	1:48.19 (6)	5:22.24 (7)
Anchor	–	Gal Cohen Groumi		–	0.02	23.91	50.47	1:18.16	1:46.41 (5)	– (–)
6	–	France	FRA	7:08.88	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Jordan Pothain		–	0.62	24.94	51.72	1:19.24	1:47.30 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Hadrien Salvan		–	0.13	24.81	51.90	1:20.31	1:48.09 (7)	3:35.39 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Enzo Tesic		–	0.18	23.77	50.64	1:18.52	1:46.84 (3)	5:22.23 (6)
Anchor	–	Jonathan Atsu		–	0.16	23.97	50.59	1:18.35	1:46.65 (6)	– (–)
7	–	Poland	POL	7:18.91	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Kacper Majchrzak		–	0.67	24.94	52.13	1:20.70	1:49.32 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Jakub Kraska		–	0.15	24.26	51.80	1:20.01	1:47.94 (6)	3:37.26 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Kamil Sieradzki		–	0.20	24.31	52.21	1:21.43	1:50.44 (7)	5:27.70 (8)
Anchor	–	Radosław Kawęcki		–	0.19	25.01	53.05	1:21.89	1:51.21 (7)	– (–)
DQ	–	Hungary	HUN	–	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Balázs Holló		–	[0.64]	[25.56]	[53.02]	[1:20.42]	[1:47.41] ([7])	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Gábor Zombori		–	[0.39]	[24.25]	[51.45]	[1:19.33]	[1:47.27] ([4])	[3:34.68] ([5])
3rd Leg	–	Dominik Kozma		–	[-0.14]	[23.94]	[51.10]	[1:18.92]	– (–)	[5:21.80] ([4])
Anchor	–	Richárd Márton		–	–	[24.41]	[51.27]	[1:19.16]	– (–)	– (–)

Heat #2

Time	20:08

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:03.25	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Matt Richards		–	0.59	24.66	51.79	1:19.25	1:46.35 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	James Guy		–	0.11	23.88	50.64	1:17.52	1:44.66 (1)	3:31.01 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Calum Jarvis		–	0.16	23.88	50.64	1:17.86	1:45.53 (1)	5:16.54 (1)
Anchor	–	Tom Dean		–	0.45	23.83	50.79	1:18.64	1:46.71 (4)	– (–)
2	–	Australia	AUS	7:05.00	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Alex Graham		–	0.76	24.65	51.48	1:18.93	1:45.72 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mack Horton		–	0.06	24.83	51.97	1:19.71	1:47.51 (6)	3:33.23 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Elijah Winnington		–	0.32	23.79	50.66	1:18.47	1:46.19 (2)	5:19.42 (3)
Anchor	–	Zac Incerti		–	0.28	24.05	51.12	1:18.12	1:45.58 (=1)	– (–)
3	–	United States	USA	7:05.62	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Drew Kibler		–	0.62	24.91	51.74	1:18.87	1:46.12 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andrew Seliskar		–	0.39	23.69	49.86	1:17.23	1:46.17 (5)	3:32.29 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Patrick Callan		–	0.48	24.48	51.44	1:19.15	1:47.12 (4)	5:19.41 (2)
Anchor	–	Blake Pieroni		–	0.28	23.92	51.10	1:18.49	1:46.21 (3)	– (–)
4	–	Germany	GER	7:06.76	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Lukas Märtens		–	0.68	24.82	51.89	1:19.12	1:47.27 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Poul Zellmann		–	0.11	24.26	51.17	1:18.56	1:45.80 (3)	3:33.07 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Henning Mühlleitner		–	0.39	25.51	52.75	1:20.61	1:48.11 (6)	5:21.18 (5)
Anchor	–	Jacob Heidtmann		–	0.27	24.29	50.79	1:18.03	1:45.58 (=1)	– (–)
5	–	Brazil	BRA	7:07.73	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Luiz Altamir		–	0.63	24.87	51.96	1:19.66	1:48.01 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Fernando Scheffer		–	0.24	24.33	50.80	1:18.19	1:46.09 (4)	3:34.10 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Murilo Sartori		–	0.17	24.31	51.25	1:18.84	1:46.76 (3)	5:20.86 (4)
Anchor	–	Breno Correia		–	0.23	23.85	50.37	1:18.12	1:46.87 (5)	– (–)
6	–	Japan	JPN	7:09.53	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Konosuke Yanagimoto		–	0.62	24.62	51.98	1:20.10	1:48.50 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Katsuhiro Matsumoto		–	0.08	23.62	50.23	1:18.05	1:45.35 (2)	3:33.85 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Kosuke Hagino		–	0.13	24.82	52.38	1:20.36	1:47.90 (5)	5:21.75 (6)
Anchor	–	Kotaro Takahashi		–	0.40	24.90	52.20	1:19.94	1:47.78 (7)	– (–)
7	–	Republic of Korea	KOR	7:15.03	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Lee Yu-Yeon		–	0.66	25.02	52.81	1:21.12	1:49.55 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Hwang Seon-U		–	0.17	24.92	52.01	1:20.64	1:48.88 (8)	3:38.43 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Kim U-Min		–	0.20	24.65	51.98	1:20.40	1:49.24 (7)	5:27.67 (8)
Anchor	–	Lee Ho-Jun		–	0.19	24.51	51.63	1:19.69	1:47.36 (6)	– (–)
8	–	Ireland	IRL	7:15.48	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Jack McMillan		–	0.71	25.28	52.33	1:19.52	1:46.66 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Finn McGeever		–	0.27	25.26	52.53	1:20.35	1:48.46 (7)	3:35.12 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Brendan Hyland		–	0.40	25.08	52.85	1:21.94	1:51.28 (8)	5:26.40 (7)
Anchor	–	Shane Ryan		–	0.29	24.96	52.85	1:21.04	1:49.08 (8)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	28 July 2021 — 12:26

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Great Britain	GBR	6:58.58	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Tom Dean		–	0.64	24.55	51.26	1:18.38	1:45.72 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	James Guy		–	0.23	23.84	50.31	1:17.31	1:44.40 (1)	3:30.12 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Matt Richards		–	0.12	23.88	50.70	1:18.14	1:45.01 (1)	5:15.13 (1)
Anchor	–	Duncan Scott		–	0.16	23.64	49.86	1:16.65	1:43.45 (1)	– (–)
2	–	ROC	ROC	7:01.81	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Martin Malyutin		–	0.68	24.77	51.62	1:18.81	1:45.69 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ivan Giryov		–	0.19	24.26	50.96	1:18.20	1:45.63 (4)	3:31.32 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Yevgeny Rylov		–	0.21	24.19	51.06	1:18.54	1:45.26 (2)	5:16.58 (2)
Anchor	–	Mikhail Dovgalyuk		–	0.25	23.86	50.14	1:17.47	1:45.23 (4)	– (–)
3	–	Australia	AUS	7:01.84	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Alex Graham		–	0.75	24.94	51.65	1:18.80	1:46.00 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Kyle Chalmers		–	0.26	24.01	50.82	1:17.95	1:45.35 (2)	3:31.35 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Zac Incerti		–	-0.03	24.13	50.84	1:18.37	1:45.75 (4)	5:17.10 (4)
Anchor	–	Thomas Neill		–	0.29	23.93	50.49	1:17.65	1:44.74 (2)	– (–)
4	–	United States	USA	7:02.43	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Kieran Smith		–	0.68	24.37	50.62	1:17.59	1:44.74 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Drew Kibler		–	0.27	24.29	50.95	1:18.18	1:45.51 (3)	3:30.25 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Zach Apple		–	0.28	23.80	50.54	1:18.31	1:47.31 (6)	5:17.56 (5)
Anchor	–	Townley Haas		–	0.32	23.82	50.04	1:17.40	1:44.87 (3)	– (–)
5	–	Italy	ITA	7:03.24	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Stefano Ballo		–	0.65	24.98	51.68	1:18.76	1:45.77 (=4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Matteo Ciampi		–	0.21	24.62	51.58	1:18.78	1:45.88 (5)	3:31.65 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Filippo Megli		–	0.15	24.20	50.78	1:18.26	1:45.33 (3)	5:16.98 (3)
Anchor	–	Stefano Di Cola		–	0.17	23.92	50.41	1:17.80	1:46.26 (7)	– (–)
6	–	Switzerland	SUI	7:06.12	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Antonio Djakovic		–	0.66	24.89	51.81	1:19.22	1:45.77 (=4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Nils Liess		–	0.09	24.17	51.03	1:19.08	1:47.74 (8)	3:33.51 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Noè Ponti		–	0.39	24.66	51.85	1:19.63	1:46.93 (5)	5:20.44 (7)
Anchor	–	Roman Mityukov		–	0.15	24.11	51.01	1:18.48	1:45.68 (6)	– (–)
7	–	Germany	GER	7:06.51	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Lukas Märtens		–	0.68	25.20	52.14	1:19.58	1:46.68 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Poul Zellmann		–	0.24	24.23	51.34	1:19.06	1:46.30 (7)	3:32.98 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Henning Mühlleitner		–	0.18	25.21	52.52	1:20.20	1:48.04 (7)	5:21.02 (8)
Anchor	–	Jacob Heidtmann		–	0.26	24.39	50.99	1:17.99	1:45.49 (5)	– (–)
8	–	Brazil	BRA	7:08.22	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Fernando Scheffer		–	0.66	24.70	51.08	1:18.31	1:45.93 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Murilo Sartori		–	0.10	24.63	51.61	1:18.78	1:46.09 (6)	3:32.02 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Breno Correia		–	0.30	24.63	51.93	1:20.04	1:48.11 (8)	5:20.13 (6)
Anchor	–	Luiz Altamir		–	0.09	23.77	50.47	1:18.45	1:48.09 (8)	– (–)