Early Olympic Relay Look: Men’s 4×100 Free Relay

As the dust settles on U.S., Australian, Canadian, and French Olympic Trials, we’re taking a bird’s-eye view of how the relay battles are shaping up.

Olympic-Qualified Relays

The top 12 relays at 2019 World Championships earned Olympic berths for their nations. Four more nations earned berths by putting up the fastest times among unqualified nations over a 15-month period leading up to the Olympics.

Nation
1 2019 Worlds USA
2 2019 Worlds Great Britain
3 2019 Worlds Russia
4 2019 Worlds Australia
5 2019 Worlds Italy
6 2019 Worlds Brazil
7 2019 Worlds France
8 2019 Worlds Hungary
9 2019 Worlds Japan
10 2019 Worlds Greece
11 2019 Worlds Germany
12 2019 Worlds Poland
13 Wild Card Canada
14 Wild Card Switzerland
15 Wild Card Serbia
16 Wild Card Netherlands

Aggregate times below are based on season-bests from September 2020 through June 2021. Lifetime-bests or time drops can obviously change the picture significantly. We’ll do a more in-depth preview of each relay event in the coming weeks, but this first-look projection is aimed at specifically seeing the impacts of recent Olympic Trials meets on the Olympic relay picture.

The Favorites

Russia
Swimmer Split
Kliment Kolesnikov 47.31
Andrei Minakov 47.57
Vladislav Grinev 47.85
Vladimir Morozov 48.00
TOTAL: 3:10.73

The 2021 European Champs have the current world leader (Kolesnikov) and four of the top 11 swimmers in the world this season in the 100 free. That actually doesn’t even include Aleksandr Schegolev, who split 47.6 on that Euro-winning relay. Russia went 3:10.41 there, setting a meet record.

Between Schegolev, Evgeny Rylov and Ivan Girev, the Russian delegation (not technically representing Russia due to the nation’s doping sanctions) has the depth to rest anyone they need to through heats. At Euros, they swam 8 different swimmers between prelims and finals.

Kolesnikov will have a conflict between this event and 100 back heats and semifinals, but should be able to handle the double.

The Contenders

USA
Swimmer Split
Caeleb Dressel 47.39
Zach Apple 47.72
Blake Pieroni 48.13
Brooks Curry 48.19
TOTAL: 3:11.43

You could probably argue for the U.S. to join Russia above in the favorites category. The U.S. beat Russia by nine-tenths of a second at 2019 Worlds. They also have room to drop, with reigning world champ Caeleb Dressel threatening to break 47 seconds individually this summer.

Reliable depth might be more of an issue for Team USA than expected. Longtime 100 free mainstay Nathan Adrian did not make the Olympic team. Neither did 2019 breakout swimmer Ryan Held. Team USA has just five swimmers selected in this event, so they might need to get creative if they want to rest any of their top names through heats.

Australia
Swimmer Split
Kyle Chalmers 47.59
Matthew Temple 48.32
Cameron McEvoy 48.49
Zac Incerti 48.51
TOTAL: 3:12.91

Australia took bronze at 2019 Worlds. While the U.S. will almost-certainly lead off with Dressel, Australia likes to use Kyle Chalmers on their anchor leg. That’s a scary thought for any other anchors in the field, with Chalmers being one of the fastest in history, the reigning Olympic champ, and the owner of perhaps the scariest second-50 of any 100 freestyler in the world.

Great Britain
Swimmer Split
Duncan Scott 47.87
Matt Richards 48.23
Tom Dean 48.30
Jacob Whittle 48.55
TOTAL: 3:12.95

Great Britain has their own star in Duncan Scotta top-tier leadoff or anchor leg. They went 3:11.5 while taking silver behind Russia at Euros last month and Scott anchored in a blazing 47.1. James Guy split 47.9 on that relay and is a good option here too.

Scott and Dean will probably have to balance this relay with heats and semifinals of the 200 free on the same day.

Hungary
Swimmer Split
Nandor Nemeth 47.84
Kristof Milak 48.00
Szebasztian Szabo 48.59
Richard Bohus 48.84
TOTAL: 3:13.27

It wasn’t that long ago that Hungary were the exciting up-and-comers in this event. They’ve got a good core of sprinters, and took fourth at Euros. There’s not a great flat-start time this year for Bohus, so we used his Euros split plus half a second (to factor out the relay exchange) above.

Italy
Swimmer Split
Alessandro Miressi 47.45
Thomas Ceccon 48.50
Manuel Frigo 48.83
Lorenzo Zazzeri 48.59
TOTAL: 3:13.37

Italy beat Hungary for bronze at Euros. The Italians were also fourth at 2019 Worlds. Ceccon and Frigo both split 47-highs at Euros, so the aggregate time probably doesn’t reflect Italy’s overall speed very well.

The Field

Brazil might have been a contender, with a 3:13 aggregate time from their top four swimmers. But the top Brazilian this year, 48.1 Andre Souza, was disqualified via a failed doping test. The new Brazil foursome still add up into the 3:14s and could still make some medal waves:

Brazil
Swimmer Split
Pedro Spajari 48.31
Gabriel Santos 48.49
Breno Correia 48.74
Marcelo Chierighini 48.83
TOTAL: 3:14.37

Host nation Japan has had three men in the 48s this year with decent depth.

Japan
Swimmer Split
Katsumi Nakamura 48.23
Katsuhiro Matsumoto 48.37
Kaiya Seki 48.98
Kosuke Matsui 49.06
TOTAL: 3:14.64

France could also make a run, pairing 47.9 Maxime Grousset with Mehdy Metellawho split 47.8 back in 2019.

France
Swimmer Split
Maxime Grousset 47.90
Clement Mignon 48.78
Charles Rihoux 49.04
Mehdy Metella 49.65
TOTAL: 3:15.37

Canada had Joshua Liendo go 48.1 at their Trials meet. They could be a factor if Yuri Kisil is in the mix – he went 48.4 in heats at Canadian Trials, but withdrew from the final with an arm injury.

Canada
Swimmer Split
Joshua Liendo 48.13
Ruslan Gaziev 48.81
Markus Thormeyer 49.24
Javier Acevedo 49.32
TOTAL: 3:15.50

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Boobstroke
3 years ago

Crazy to think in only 1 relay (men’s medley) is the USA lock for the gold

JP input is too short
Reply to  Boobstroke
3 years ago

And that’s not even a lock… did you see 2019 Worlds?

JP input is too short
3 years ago

Stinks for Russia that that the 100 back first and second round are the same day between Kolesnikov and Rylov (47.0 split at 2019 Worlds); and for GB that the 200 free first and second round are the same day between Scott and Dean.

Perhaps a blessing in disguise for the USA that Pieroni or Apple didn’t double up in the 200 and Dressel stopped after prelims?

Drama King
3 years ago

Gold – Russia
Silver – USA
Bronze – Italy
D. H. (minor medal) – Brazil, France

Brownish
Reply to  Drama King
3 years ago

And GB and Hungary and…

Afrikanman
3 years ago

The Yanks take this one – Dressel leads off in WR, Curry at 47.3, Apple at 46.7 and it is OVER!!!

Bobo Gigi
3 years ago

On paper Russia is the fastest team but the US relay will have a huge advantage of freshness with the 100 back and the 200 free just before the final.
Same problem for GB.

Troyy
Reply to  Bobo Gigi
3 years ago

Russia’s 200 entries shouldn’t be on the relay so it’s only the 100 back that clashes for Russia.

Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
Reply to  Bobo Gigi
3 years ago

Chalmers and Nemeth also in 200 free.
Ceccon also in 100 back.
It seems every country apart from US will face the problem.

Brownish
Reply to  Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
3 years ago

Bohus and Kozma, too.

Rafael
Reply to  Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
3 years ago

Brazil will only have breno swimming that session if he qualifies on 200

Gator
3 years ago

Brazil always throws down in this relay

Gator
3 years ago

When Morozov is your slowest leg, and Rylov can’t make the team, I guess you are pretty fast….

HJones
Reply to  Gator
3 years ago

I am willing to bet Morozov will not be the slowest split on that relay. If he is, the USA is doomed.

STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
3 years ago

I had the USA as favourites before their trials but the times weren’t as fast as predicted whereas Russia surprised on the upside and look to have more options. Minakov wasn’t as fast as expected in either freestyle or butterfly but he might have been holding something in reserve. The USA’s best hope is to put Dressel first to take full advantage of his explosive start and hope to hang on. If they lose the lead then Apple is the sort of swimmer you want on the anchor leg to try and get it back. All of the other finalists will have a chance for the bronze. I’m leaning towards Australia.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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