The mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 2 and 3 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 US, Australia and China were considered the most likely to win for the event, and all three of them qualified for the final. In the final, the US and China led the race, alternating the lead. The US won with a new world record of 3:37.43, China finished second with a new Asian record of 3:37.55, Australia finished second with a new Oceanian record of 3:38.76, and France finished fourth with a new national record of 3:40.96.
Background
Team Great Britain won the event at the previous Olympics, but David Reider from Swimming World opined that the British team "do not have the speed to finish off the race" at this edition of the event.[1]China won the event at the 2023 World Championships, the US won the event at the 2024 World Championships, and Australia won silver at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Championships.[2]SwimSwam predicted the US would win gold, China would win silver and Australia would win bronze,[2] while Swimming World predicted Australia would win, the US would come second and China would come third. Swimming World also opined it was "perhaps the most unpredictable event of the Games".[1]
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 2 August 2024, starting at 12:03.[b][5] The teams with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final.[6] Australia won the first heat with the second fastest qualifying time of 3:41.42, while the US won the second heat with the fastest qualifying time of 3:41.42. China, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, France and Japan also all qualified,[7] with France's quartet lowering their national record to 3:43.99 to qualify in seventh.[8][9]
Caeleb Dressel's swim for the US in these heats earned him a gold medal when the US eventually won gold in the final. It was his ninth Olympic gold, which meant he joined a five-way tie for the second most Olympic gold medals of all time.[10]
The final took place at 21:58 on 3 August.[11] The US and China led the race, swimming close to each other in the first and second positions the whole way through.[12] The US was ahead at the first exchange, China was ahead at the second exchange, and then the US was ahead at the final changeover.[13] The US' Torri Huske held the lead for the rest of the race to win gold for the US with a new world record of 3:37.43.[12][14][15] China finished second with a new Asian record of 3:37.55,[16] Australia finished second with a new Oceanian record of 3:38.76,[17] and France finished fourth with a new national record of 3:40.96.[13]
Both the US and China swam faster than the previous world record set by Great Britain at the previous Olympics,[12] and it was the second swimming world record of the 2024 Games.[18]SwimSwam reported that the US got "redemption" for their fifth place finish at the previous Olympics.[19] Every team used a female on the freestyle portions of the race and a male on the breaststroke portions of the race, while the butterfly and backstroke were interchanged between genders.[18]
↑ In medley swimming, each competitor swims one of the four strokes. In a medley relay, the stroke order is backstroke first, followed by breaststroke, then butterfly, and finally freestyle.
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