The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 3 and 4 August 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events. Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each swimmer had to swim two lengths of the pool with their respective stroke.[a]
The United States and China were the favourites to win the event, though Great Britain, France and Australia were also in contention to win or medal in the event. All of those teams progressed through to the final.
In the final, China won gold with a time of 3:27.46, the United States won silver with 3:28.01 and France won bronze with 3:28.38. China's win broke the US's Olympic unbeaten streak in this event since the event was introduced in 1960, and Pan Zhanle's finishing leg for China split a time of 45.92 seconds, which was the fastest 100 metre freestyle relay split ever.
SwimSwam predicted China would win the event and the US would take second,[1] while Swimming World predicted it would be the other way around.[2] Both predicted Great Britain would finish third.[1][2]
The event was held at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.[3]
Each National Olympic Committee could enter one team, and there were a total of sixteen qualifications places available. The first three qualifying places were taken by the podium finishers at the 2023 World Championships, and the final thirteen qualifying places were allocated to the fastest performances at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships.[4]
Heats
Two heats (preliminary rounds) took place on 3 August 2024, starting at 12:40.[b][5] The teams with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final.[6] France won the first heat to qualify with the fastest time of 3:31.36, while the United States won the second heat to qualify with the third-fastest time of 3:31.62. China, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and Germany also qualified.[7]Ireland lowered their national record to 3:33.81 but did not qualify.[8] Spain were disqualified due to the fourth swimmer starting before the third one finished.[9]
The final took place at 19:10 on 4 August.[10] China's Xu Jiayu swam the fastest opening leg (backstroke), and team China maintained their lead over the second leg (breaststroke). Over the third leg (butterfly), France and the US overtook China. During the final freestyle leg, China's Pan Zhanle passed both France and the US to win the race with a time of 3:27.46. The US won silver in 3:28.01, France won bronze in 3:28.38 and Great Britain finished fourth in 3:29.60. France's 3:28.38 was a new national record.[11]
China's win broke the US's Olympic unbeaten streak in this event since the event was introduced in 1960.[12]CNN reported that Chinese internet users "exploded with joy".[13] Pan's finishing leg split of 45.92 was the fastest 100 metre freestyle relay split ever. It broke Jason Lezak's previous mark of 46.06 and was the first split ever under 46 seconds. The fastest splits for each stroke were Xu's 52.37 backstroke split, Qin Haiyang's 57.98 breaststroke split, Caeleb Dressel's 49.41 butterfly split and Pan's 45.92 freestyle split.[14]
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