200 metres Individual Medley, Men

It had been a long time since anybody not named Michael Phelps had won this event, that being Italian Massi Rosolino back in 2000 at Sydney. Also absent was Ryan Lochte, three times a medallist behind Phelps in this event, who was still swimming but had not made the US Olympic Team for Tokyo.

In their absence it was difficult to choose a favorite, with American Michael Andrew having the fastest time of the year, set at the recent US Olympic Trials with 1:55.26. Japan’s Daiya Seto was the 2019 World Champion but had not matched that form in 2021. His teammate Kosuke Hagino was a silver medallist at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 Worlds, and was still considered formidable, while China’s Wang Shun and Britain’s Duncan Scott were also in the discussion.

Andrew, who was known for his “fly-and-die” approach of going out fast and trying to hold on, led the preliminary round, as all the favorites got through, although Seto was only the 16th qualifier. The semis were led by Wang as Andrew finished fourth, with the slowest freestyle split of the finalists by over 1½ seconds.

The final saw Andrew take the lead on the opening butterfly leg, followed by Hungary’s László Cseh and Wang. Wang took over on the backstroke split, but Andrew, a strong breaststroker, took back the lead on that third leg and was over a second ahead as they started the freestyle. Andrew definitely died on that last lap, as he would be more than three seconds slower than Wang and Scott on the freestyle. Wang and Scott finished 1-2 followed by Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches, who touched out Seto, as Andrew struggled in in fifth place.