4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

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.