4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

As with most men’s relays, the United States was the favorite, followed by Australia. The USA had won the gold medal in 2016 and 2020, and 11 of the 14 times it had been contested at the Olympic Games. Australia had won the event three times at the World Championships, and had never failed to medal in it at the Pac Pacific Swimming Championships, something not even the USA had done.

China, surprisingly, led the qualifying, followed by Australia. The United States was the fourth qualifier, behind Great Britain, with somewhat of a B team swimming the heats.

The final was held on the first night of the Paris 2024 swimming programme. China put out their superstar sprinter, Pan Zhanle, on the first leg, and he gave them a ¾-second lead over Jack Alexy of the United States. On the second leg, Chris Guiliano put the Americans in front and they were never headed, winning the gold medal by over a second ahead of Australia. Caeleb Dressel, the USA anchor, won gold in the event for the third consecutive Olympics.

Australia was not in silver medal position until the anchor, and stood fourth and third at the first two exchanges, but Kyle Chalmers had the fastest split of the night (46.59) to bring them home in second. China went from first to last on the second leg by Ji Xinjie, but would come back, finally finishing fourth behind the surprising bronze medalist, Italy.