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

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.

Men's 400 metre individual medley
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
VenueTokyo Aquatics Centre
Dates24 July 2021 (heats)
25 July 2021 (final)
Competitors29 from 23 nations
Winning time4:09.42
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Chase Kalisz  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jay Litherland  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Brendon Smith  Australia
← 2016
2024 →

Summary

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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

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

World record   Michael Phelps (USA) 4:03.84 Beijing, China 10 August 2008 [2]
Olympic record   Michael Phelps (USA) 4:03.84 Beijing, China 10 August 2008 [2]

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

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Main article: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – 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

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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

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

Date Time Round
24 July 19:02 Heats
25 July 10:30 Final

Results

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

Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 4 6 Brendon Smith   Australia 4:09.27 Q, OC
2 3 3 Lewis Clareburt   New Zealand 4:09.49 Q, NR
3 3 4 Chase Kalisz   United States 4:09.65 Q
4 3 5 Dávid Verrasztó   Hungary 4:09.80 Q
5 4 5 Jay Litherland   United States 4:09.91 Q
5 4 2 Alberto Razzetti   Italy 4:09.91 Q
7 4 3 Léon Marchand   France 4:10.09 Q
8 3 6 Max Litchfield   Great Britain 4:10.20 Q
9 4 4 Daiya Seto   Japan 4:10.52
10 4 7 Wang Shun   China 4:10.63
11 3 2 Yuki Ikari   Japan 4:12.08
12 4 1 Jacob Heidtmann   Germany 4:12.09
13 3 1 Péter Bernek   Hungary 4:12.38
14 3 7 Apostolos Papastamos   Greece 4:12.50
15 2 4 Joan Lluís Pons   Spain 4:12.67 NR
16 2 6 Se-Bom Lee   Australia 4:15.76
17 2 5 Arjan Knipping   Netherlands 4:15.83
18 2 2 Maxim Stupin   ROC 4:16.21
19 4 8 Pier Andrea Matteazzi   Italy 4:16.31
20 1 5 José Paulo Lopes   Portugal 4:16.52
21 3 8 Brodie Williams   Great Britain 4:17.27
22 2 8 Jarod Arroyo   Puerto Rico 4:17.46
23 2 7 Richard Nagy   Slovakia 4:18.29
24 1 4 Tomas Peribonio   Ecuador 4:18.73
25 2 1 Wang Hsing-hao   Chinese Taipei 4:19.06
26 2 3 Maksym Shemberev   Azerbaijan 4:19.40
27 1 3 Ron Polonsky   Israel 4:21.50
28 1 6 Christoph Meier   Liechtenstein 4:25.17
29 1 2 Luis Vega Torres   Cuba 4:27.65

Final

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[6]

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  3 Chase Kalisz   United States 4:09.42
  7 Jay Litherland   United States 4:10.28
  4 Brendon Smith   Australia 4:10.38
4 6 Dávid Verrasztó   Hungary 4:10.59
4 8 Max Litchfield   Great Britain 4:10.59
6 1 Léon Marchand   France 4:11.16
7 5 Lewis Clareburt   New Zealand 4:11.22
8 2 Alberto Razzetti   Italy 4:11.32

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b "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.
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