Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre individual medley

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Men's 400 metre individual medley
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Venue Tokyo Aquatics Centre
Dates24 July 2021 (heats)
25 July 2021 (final)
Competitors29 from 23 nations
Winning time4:09.42
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Chase Kalisz Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Jay Litherland Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Brendon Smith Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
  2016
2024  

The men's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 24 and 25 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. [1] It was the event's fifteenth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1964.

Summary

In the first swimming final at these Games, the U.S.' Chase Kalisz used a scintillating breaststroke leg to upgrade his silver from Rio five years earlier with an Olympic title in the event. In the slowest Olympic final since 2000, Kalisz was the only finalist to improve on his heat time, clocking 4:09.42 to take the win. Kalisz's teammate Jay Litherland closed strongly in the final freestyle leg but could not overtake Kalisz, taking silver in 4:10.28 to deliver a U.S. quinella.

Australia's Brendon Smith (4:10.38) almost pulled off a last-to-first victory, sitting in eighth heading into the freestyle before splitting a blistering 56.3 to take bronze. With the podium finish, Smith claimed his nation's first medal in the event since Robert Woodhouse also won bronze in 1984. Only two-tenths of a second back, Hungary's Dávid Verrasztó and Great Britain's Max Litchfield were shut out of the medals, tying for fourth in 4:10.59. France's Léon Marchand (4:11.16), New Zealand's Lewis Clareburt (4:11.22) and Italy's Alberto Razzetti rounded out the tight field, with first to eighth separated by just two seconds.

Notable swimmers to miss the final included Japan's reigning World champion Daiya Seto who finished ninth in the heats, only 0.32 seconds behind the last qualifier. Fellow countryman Kosuke Hagino elected to not defend his Olympic title.

The medals for the competition were presented by Austria's IOC member Karl Stoss and the gifts were presented by Kuwait's FINA President Husain Al-Musallam.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Michael Phelps  (USA)4:03.84 Beijing, China 10 August 2008 [2]
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Michael Phelps  (USA)4:03.84 Beijing, China 10 August 2008 [2]

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 4:15.84. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 4:21.46. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place. [3]

Competition format

The competition consists of two rounds: heats and a final. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round. [4]

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) [1]

DateTimeRound
24 July19:02Heats
25 July10:30Final

Results

The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final. [5]

Heats

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
146 Brendon Smith Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:09.27Q, OC
233 Lewis Clareburt Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 4:09.49Q, NR
334 Chase Kalisz Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:09.65Q
435 Dávid Verrasztó Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 4:09.80Q
545 Jay Litherland Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:09.91Q
542 Alberto Razzetti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 4:09.91Q
743 Léon Marchand Flag of France.svg  France 4:10.09Q
836 Max Litchfield Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:10.20Q
944 Daiya Seto Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 4:10.52
1047 Wang Shun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 4:10.63
1132 Yuki Ikari Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 4:12.08
1241 Jacob Heidtmann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 4:12.09
1331 Péter Bernek Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 4:12.38
1437 Apostolos Papastamos Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 4:12.50
1524 Joan Lluís Pons Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 4:12.67 NR
1626 Se-Bom Lee Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:15.76
1725 Arjan Knipping Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 4:15.83
1822 Maxim Stupin Russian Olympic Committee flag.png  ROC 4:16.21
1948 Pier Andrea Matteazzi Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 4:16.31
2015 José Paulo Lopes Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 4:16.52
2138 Brodie Williams Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:17.27
2228 Jarod Arroyo Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico 4:17.46
2327 Richard Nagy Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 4:18.29
2414 Tomas Peribonio Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador 4:18.73
2521 Wang Hsing-hao Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg  Chinese Taipei 4:19.06
2623 Maksym Shemberev Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan 4:19.40
2713 Ron Polonsky Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 4:21.50
2816 Christoph Meier Flag of Liechtenstein.svg  Liechtenstein 4:25.17
2912 Luis Vega Torres Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 4:27.65

Final

[6]

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg3 Chase Kalisz Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:09.42
Silver medal icon.svg7 Jay Litherland Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:10.28
Bronze medal icon.svg4 Brendon Smith Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:10.38
46 Dávid Verrasztó Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 4:10.59
48 Max Litchfield Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:10.59
61 Léon Marchand Flag of France.svg  France 4:11.16
75 Lewis Clareburt Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 4:11.22
82 Alberto Razzetti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 4:11.32

References

  1. 1 2 "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020 . Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Opening statement: Phelps grabs gold, WR in 400 IM". ESPN. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  3. "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (PDF). Tokyo 2020 . FINA . Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  4. "FINA Swimming Rulebook, 2017–21" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  5. "Heats results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  6. "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.