# Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay

The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 and 26 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the thirteenth appearance of the event, which has been held from 1964 to 1972 and then at every Games since 1984.

## Summary

The U.S. men defended their title from Rio five years earlier, producing the fastest swim in 13 years. Caeleb Dressel (47.26) gave the U.S. an early lead which Blake Pieroni (47.58) and Bowe Becker (47.44) would maintain over the next 200 m. With Italy two-tenths off a second back after the final changeover, Zach Apple had a sterling anchor leg of 46.69 to separate the U.S. from the field and touch first in 3:08.97.
Meanwhile Italy's Alessandro Miressi (47.72), Thomas Ceccon (47.45) and Lorenzo Zazzeri (47.31) moved from fourth to second before handing over to Manuel Frigo (47.63) who ensured the Italians their first-ever medal in the event, winning silver in a national record of 3:10.11. Australia's Matthew Temple (48.07), Zac Incerti (47.55) and Alexander Graham (48.16), struggled to chase against the rest of the teams throughout the race, until anchor Kyle Chalmers launched a late attack on the home stretch with a 46.44 split - the fastest in the field - to deliver the Australian quartet their second-straight bronze medal in 3:10.22. Swimming in lane 1, Canada were surprisingly in podium contention after receiving strong splits from Brent Hayden (47.99), Joshua Liendo (47.51) and Yuri Kisil (47.15). While Markus Thormeyer (48.17) could not hold off Chalmers's powerful finish, the Canadians shattered their national record to place fourth in 3:10.82.
Hungary's Kristóf Milák (48.24), Szebasztián Szabó (47.44), Richárd Bohus (47.81) and Nándor Németh (47.57) improved throughout the race to come fifth in a national record of 3:11.06. While France received a strong start from Maxime Grousset (47.52) - only 0.26 off the U.S.' Dressel - Florent Manaudou (47.62), Clément Mignon (48.01) and Mehdy Metella (47.94) could not maintain the pace, coming sixth in 3:11.09. While Andrei Minakov (47.71) kept ROC in third at the 100 m mark, the pre-race favourites struggled to mount a challenge against the field and fell to seventh in 3:12.20. Brazil (3:13.41) rounded out the championship field.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | United States (USA)Michael Phelps (47.51)Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02)Cullen Jones (47.65)Jason Lezak (46.06) | 3:08.24 | Beijing, China | 11 August 2008 |
| Olympic record | United States (USA)Michael Phelps (47.51)Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02)Cullen Jones (47.65)Jason Lezak (46.06) | 3:08.24 | Beijing, China | 11 August 2008 |
No new records were set during the competition.

## Qualification

The top 12 teams in this event at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships qualified for the Olympics. An additional 4 teams will qualify through having the fastest times at approved qualifying events during the qualifying period (1 March 2019 to 30 May 2020).

## Competition format

The competition consists of two rounds: heats and a final. The relay teams 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.

## Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 25 July 2021 | 20:30 | Heats |
| Monday, 26 July 2021 | 12:05 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The relay teams with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 5 | Italy | Alessandro Miressi (47.46) Santo Condorelli (47.90) Lorenzo Zazzeri (47.29) Manuel Frigo (47.64) | 3:10.29 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | United States | Brooks Curry (48.84) Blake Pieroni (47.71) Bowen Becker (47.59) Zach Apple (47.19) | 3:11.33 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | Australia | Cameron McEvoy (49.18) Zac Incerti (47.64) Alexander Graham (48.44) Kyle Chalmers (46.63) | 3:11.89 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 6 | France | Clément Mignon (48.58) Maxime Grousset (47.41) Charles Rihoux (48.27) Mehdy Metella (48.09) | 3:12.35 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | Brazil | Breno Correia (48.67) Pedro Spajari (48.15) Gabriel Santos (48.43) Marcelo Chierighini (47.34) | 3:12.59 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 6 | Hungary | Kristóf Milák (48.56) Szebasztián Szabó (48.44) Richárd Bohus (48.27) Nándor Németh (47.46) | 3:12.73 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 2 | Canada | Brent Hayden (48.51) Joshua Liendo (47.67) Ruslan Gaziev (49.04) Yuri Kisil (47.78) | 3:13.00 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 4 | ROC | Vladislav Grinev (48.39) Andrey Minakov (47.48) Vladimir Morozov (48.13) Aleksandr Shchegolev (49.13) | 3:13.13 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | Great Britain | Matthew Richards (48.23) James Guy (48.03) Joe Litchfield (49.41) Jacob Whittle (47.50) | 3:13.17 | |
| 10 | 1 | 7 | Serbia | Velimir Stjepanović (48.74) Andrej Barna (47.50) Uroš Nikolić (48.94) Nikola Aćin (48.53) | 3:13.71 | NR |
| 11 | 1 | 8 | Poland | Karol Ostrowski (48.67) Kacper Majchrzak (49.02) Konrad Czerniak (48.51) Jakub Kraska (47.68) | 3:13.88 | NR |
| 12 | 2 | 1 | Netherlands | Nyls Korstanje (49.15) Stan Pijnenburg (47.35) Thom de Boer (49.39) Jesse Puts (48.18) | 3:14.07 | |
| 13 | 1 | 1 | Japan | Katsumi Nakamura (48.56) Shinri Shioura (48.63) Akira Namba (48.66) Kaiya Seki (48.59) | 3:14.44 | |
| 14 | 2 | 7 | Switzerland | Roman Mityukov (48.46) Nils Liess (49.17) Noè Ponti (48.62) Antonio Djakovic (48.40) | 3:14.65 | |
| 15 | 1 | 2 | Greece | Andreas Vazaios (48.65) Kristian Gkolomeev (47.95) Odysseus Meladinis (49.69) Apostolos Christou (49.00) | 3:15.29 | |
| 16 | 2 | 8 | Germany | Damian Wierling (48.96) Marius Kusch (48.71) Christoph Fildebrandt (48.72) Jan Eric Friese (48.95) | 3:15.34 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | United States | Caeleb Dressel (47.26) Blake Pieroni (47.58) Bowe Becker (47.44) Zach Apple (46.69) | 3:08.97 | |
| | 4 | Italy | Alessandro Miressi (47.72) Thomas Ceccon (47.45) Lorenzo Zazzeri (47.31) Manuel Frigo (47.63) | 3:10.11 | NR |
| | 3 | Australia | Matthew Temple (48.07) Zac Incerti (47.55) Alexander Graham (48.16) Kyle Chalmers (46.44) | 3:10.22 | |
| 4 | 1 | Canada | Brent Hayden (47.99) Joshua Liendo (47.51) Yuri Kisil (47.15) Markus Thormeyer (48.17) | 3:10.82 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Hungary | Kristóf Milák (48.24) Szebasztián Szabó (47.44) Richárd Bohus (47.81) Nándor Németh (47.57) | 3:11.06 | NR |
| 6 | 6 | France | Maxime Grousset (47.52) Florent Manaudou (47.62) Clément Mignon (48.01) Mehdy Metella (47.94) | 3:11.09 | |
| 7 | 8 | ROC | Andrei Minakov (47.71) Vladislav Grinev (47.94) Vladimir Morozov (48.15) Kliment Kolesnikov (48.40) | 3:12.20 | |
| 8 | 2 | Brazil | Breno Correia (48.69) Pedro Spajari (48.24) Gabriel Santos (48.76) Marcelo Chierighini (47.72) | 3:13.41 | |