| | Event type

4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	25 – 26 July 2021
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympic Aquatics Centre, 2-1, 2chome, Tatsumi, Koto-ku, Tatsumi-no-Mori Seaside Park, Tokyo, Japan
Participants	70 from 16 countries

Although other nations had top sprinters, nobody had the depth of the United States and they were expected to win the gold medal. Held 12 times since 1964, the USA had won 9 of the 12 gold medals in the event, as Australia won in 2000, South Africa in 2004, and France in 2012. They had also won 5 of the last 8 World Championships in the event, with Australia winning in 2011 and France in 2013 and 2015.

In the preliminaries Italy qualified the fastest, as the USA finished second, although they had left off Caeleb Dressel, the dominant sprinter in Tokyo, saving him for the final. Australia was third and France fourth in the heats.

In the final Dressel led off for the Americans, putting them into the lead, 0.26 seconds ahead of France and Maxime Grousset. Blake Pieroni and Bowe Becker maintained the lead for the Americans as they led at every exchange. The anchor leg was swum by Zach Apple, who came home in 46.69, the second fastest leg of the relay, to secure gold for the USA.

Italy, which had been fourth in the early going, came on strong on the last two legs, swum by Lorenzo Zazzeri and Manuel Frigo, to win silver, just ahead of Australia. The Aussies had not been in medal contention for the first two legs, but Kyle Chalmers’ anchor of 46.44 was the fastest split in the event and brought them the bronze medal.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	United States	USA	3:11.33 (1 h2)	3:08.97 (1)	Gold
	Caeleb Dressel • Blake Pieroni • Bowe Becker • Zach Apple • Brooks Curry
2	Italy	ITA	3:10.29 (1 h1)	3:10.11 (2)	Silver
	Alessandro Miressi • Thomas Ceccon • Lorenzo Zazzeri • Manuel Frigo • Santo Condorelli
3	Australia	AUS	3:11.89 (2 h2)	3:10.22 (3)	Bronze
	Matthew Temple • Zac Incerti • Alex Graham • Kyle Chalmers • Cameron McEvoy
4	Canada	CAN	3:13.00 (4 h2)	3:10.82 (4)
	Brent Hayden • Josh Liendo • Yuri Kisil • Markus Thormeyer • Ruslan Gaziev
5	Hungary	HUN	3:12.73 (3 h2)	3:11.06 (5)
	Kristóf Milák • Szebasztián Szabó • Richárd Bohus • Nándor Németh
6	France	FRA	3:12.35 (2 h1)	3:11.09 (6)
	Maxime Grousset • Florent Manaudou • Clément Mignon • Mehdy Metella • Charles Rihoux
7	ROC	ROC	3:13.13 (4 h1)	3:12.20 (7)
	Andrey Minakov • Vladislav Grinev • Vladimir Morozov • Kliment Kolesnikov • Aleksandr Shchogolev
8	Brazil	BRA	3:12.59 (3 h1)	3:13.41 (8)
	Breno Correia • Pedro Spajari • Gabriel Santos • Marcelo Chierighini
9	Great Britain	GBR	3:13.17 (5 h2)	–
	Matt Richards • James Guy • Joe Litchfield • Jacob Whittle
10	Serbia	SRB	3:13.71 (5 h1)	–
	Velimir Stjepanović • Andrej Barna • Uroš Nikolić • Nikola Aćin
11	Poland	POL	3:13.88 (6 h1)	–
	Karol Ostrowski • Kacper Majchrzak • Konrad Czerniak • Jakub Kraska
12	Netherlands	NED	3:14.07 (6 h2)	–
	Nyls Korstanje • Stan Pijnenburg • Thom de Boer • Jesse Puts
13	Japan	JPN	3:14.44 (7 h1)	–
	Katsumi Nakamura • Shinri Shioura • Akira Namba • Kaiya Seki
14	Switzerland	SUI	3:14.65 (7 h2)	–
	Roman Mityukov • Nils Liess • Noè Ponti • Antonio Djakovic
15	Greece	GRE	3:15.29 (8 h1)	–
	Andreas Vazaios • Kristian Gkolomeev • Odysseus Meladinis • Apostolos Christou
16	Germany	GER	3:15.34 (8 h2)	–
	Damian Wierling • Marius Kusch • Christoph Fildebrandt • Eric Friese

Round One

Date	25 July 2021 — 20:30

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	5	Italy	ITA	3:10.29	Q
2	4	United States	USA	3:11.33	Q
3	5	Australia	AUS	3:11.89	Q
4	6	France	FRA	3:12.35	Q
5	3	Brazil	BRA	3:12.59	Q
6	6	Hungary	HUN	3:12.73	Q
7	2	Canada	CAN	3:13.00	Q
8	4	ROC	ROC	3:13.13	Q
9	3	Great Britain	GBR	3:13.17
10	7	Serbia	SRB	3:13.71
11	8	Poland	POL	3:13.88
12	1	Netherlands	NED	3:14.07
13	1	Japan	JPN	3:14.44
14	7	Switzerland	SUI	3:14.65
15	2	Greece	GRE	3:15.29
16	8	Germany	GER	3:15.34

Heat #1

Time	20:30

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	5	Italy	ITA	3:10.29	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Alessandro Miressi		–	0.70	22.80	47.46 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Santo Condorelli		–	0.33	22.66	47.90 (4)	1:35.36 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Lorenzo Zazzeri		–	0.31	22.16	47.29 (1)	2:22.65 (1)
Anchor	–	Manuel Frigo		–	0.30	22.65	47.64 (2)	– (–)
2	6	France	FRA	3:12.35	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Clément Mignon		–	0.59	23.15	48.58 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Maxime Grousset		–	0.46	22.54	47.41 (1)	1:35.99 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Charles Rihoux		–	0.15	22.65	48.27 (3)	2:24.26 (3)
Anchor	–	Mehdy Metella		–	0.30	22.70	48.09 (4)	– (–)
3	3	Brazil	BRA	3:12.59	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Breno Correia		–	0.62	23.45	48.67 (=6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Pedro Spajari		–	0.29	22.81	48.15 (6)	1:36.82 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Gabriel Santos		–	0.22	22.73	48.43 (4)	2:25.25 (5)
Anchor	–	Marcelo Chierighini		–	0.26	21.86	47.34 (1)	– (–)
4	4	ROC	ROC	3:13.13	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Vladislav Grinev		–	0.63	23.12	48.39 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andrey Minakov		–	0.16	22.76	47.48 (2)	1:35.87 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Vladimir Morozov		–	0.27	22.39	48.13 (2)	2:24.00 (2)
Anchor	–	Aleksandr Shchogolev		–	0.32	22.90	49.13 (8)	– (–)
5	7	Serbia	SRB	3:13.71	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Velimir Stjepanović		–	0.62	23.52	48.74 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andrej Barna		–	0.26	22.54	47.50 (3)	1:36.24 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Uroš Nikolić		–	0.25	23.25	48.94 (7)	2:25.18 (4)
Anchor	–	Nikola Aćin		–	0.19	22.57	48.53 (5)	– (–)
6	8	Poland	POL	3:13.88	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Karol Ostrowski		–	0.65	23.17	48.67 (=6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Kacper Majchrzak		–	0.14	23.34	49.02 (8)	1:37.69 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Konrad Czerniak		–	0.24	22.81	48.51 (5)	2:26.20 (7)
Anchor	–	Jakub Kraska		–	0.19	22.52	47.68 (3)	– (–)
7	1	Japan	JPN	3:14.44	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Katsumi Nakamura		–	0.71	23.43	48.56 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Shinri Shioura		–	0.25	23.04	48.63 (7)	1:37.19 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Akira Namba		–	0.24	22.51	48.66 (6)	2:25.85 (6)
Anchor	–	Kaiya Seki		–	0.15	23.18	48.59 (6)	– (–)
8	2	Greece	GRE	3:15.29	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Andreas Vazaios		–	0.63	23.90	48.65 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Kristian Gkolomeev		–	0.37	22.72	47.95 (5)	1:36.60 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Odysseus Meladinis		–	0.26	22.81	49.69 (8)	2:26.29 (8)
Anchor	–	Apostolos Christou		–	0.26	22.92	49.00 (7)	– (–)

Heat #2

Time	20:40

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	4	United States	USA	3:11.33	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Brooks Curry		–	0.60	23.21	48.84 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Blake Pieroni		–	0.32	22.72	47.71 (4)	1:36.55 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Bowe Becker		–	0.33	22.50	47.59 (1)	2:24.14 (1)
Anchor	–	Zach Apple		–	0.24	22.20	47.19 (2)	– (–)
2	5	Australia	AUS	3:11.89	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Cameron McEvoy		–	0.57	23.40	49.18 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Zac Incerti		–	0.05	22.52	47.64 (2)	1:36.82 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Alex Graham		–	0.16	23.35	48.44 (3)	2:25.26 (3)
Anchor	–	Kyle Chalmers		–	0.14	22.03	46.63 (1)	– (–)
3	6	Hungary	HUN	3:12.73	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Kristóf Milák		–	0.68	23.29	48.56 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Szebasztián Szabó		–	0.22	22.76	48.44 (6)	1:37.00 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Richárd Bohus		–	0.15	23.07	48.27 (2)	2:25.27 (4)
Anchor	–	Nándor Németh		–	0.11	22.85	47.46 (3)	– (–)
4	2	Canada	CAN	3:13.00	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Brent Hayden		–	0.69	23.01	48.51 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Josh Liendo		–	0.09	22.56	47.67 (3)	1:36.18 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Ruslan Gaziev		–	0.17	23.01	49.04 (6)	2:25.22 (2)
Anchor	–	Yuri Kisil		–	0.15	22.68	47.78 (5)	– (–)
5	3	Great Britain	GBR	3:13.17	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Matt Richards		–	0.59	23.30	48.23 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	James Guy		–	0.16	22.90	48.03 (5)	1:36.26 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Joe Litchfield		–	0.23	23.38	49.41 (8)	2:25.67 (5)
Anchor	–	Jacob Whittle		–	0.15	22.60	47.50 (4)	– (–)
6	1	Netherlands	NED	3:14.07	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Nyls Korstanje		–	0.63	23.37	49.15 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Stan Pijnenburg		–	0.23	22.49	47.35 (1)	1:36.50 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Thom de Boer		–	0.13	22.74	49.39 (7)	2:25.89 (6)
Anchor	–	Jesse Puts		–	0.17	22.55	48.18 (6)	– (–)
7	7	Switzerland	SUI	3:14.65	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Roman Mityukov		–	0.55	23.29	48.46 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Nils Liess		–	0.30	23.31	49.17 (8)	1:37.63 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Noè Ponti		–	0.18	23.26	48.62 (4)	2:26.25 (7)
Anchor	–	Antonio Djakovic		–	0.26	22.95	48.40 (7)	– (–)
8	8	Germany	GER	3:15.34	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Damian Wierling		–	0.66	23.68	48.96 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Marius Kusch		–	0.15	22.99	48.71 (7)	1:37.67 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Christoph Fildebrandt		–	0.04	23.07	48.72 (5)	2:26.39 (8)
Anchor	–	Eric Friese		–	0.31	23.18	48.95 (8)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	26 July 2021 — 12:05

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	5	United States	USA	3:08.97	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Caeleb Dressel		–	0.61	22.24	47.26 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Blake Pieroni		–	0.25	22.49	47.58 (4)	1:34.84 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Bowe Becker		–	0.23	22.21	47.44 (3)	2:22.28 (1)
Anchor	–	Zach Apple		–	0.05	21.81	46.69 (2)	– (–)
2	4	Italy	ITA	3:10.11	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Alessandro Miressi		–	0.70	22.77	47.72 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Thomas Ceccon		–	0.27	22.73	57.45 (8)	1:35.17 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Lorenzo Zazzeri		–	0.18	22.12	47.31 (2)	2:22.48 (2)
Anchor	–	Manuel Frigo		–	0.29	22.50	47.63 (4)	– (–)
3	3	Australia	AUS	3:10.22	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Matthew Temple		–	0.61	23.25	48.07 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Zac Incerti		–	0.23	22.84	47.55 (3)	1:35.62 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Alex Graham		–	0.17	22.76	48.16 (7)	2:23.78 (6)
Anchor	–	Kyle Chalmers		–	0.28	22.23	46.44 (1)	– (–)
4	1	Canada	CAN	3:10.82	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Brent Hayden		–	0.67	22.84	47.99 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Josh Liendo		–	0.17	22.62	47.51 (2)	1:35.50 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Yuri Kisil		–	0.00	22.40	47.15 (1)	2:22.65 (3)
Anchor	–	Markus Thormeyer		–	0.07	22.63	48.17 (7)	– (–)
5	7	Hungary	HUN	3:11.06	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Kristóf Milák		–	0.70	23.23	48.24 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Szebasztián Szabó		–	0.04	22.32	47.44 (1)	1:35.68 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Richárd Bohus		–	0.23	22.39	47.81 (4)	2:23.49 (5)
Anchor	–	Nándor Németh		–	0.12	22.85	47.57 (3)	– (–)
6	6	France	FRA	3:11.09	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Maxime Grousset		–	0.62	22.81	47.52 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Florent Manaudou		–	0.07	22.10	47.62 (5)	1:35.14 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Clément Mignon		–	0.17	22.61	48.01 (5)	2:23.15 (4)
Anchor	–	Mehdy Metella		–	0.11	22.61	47.94 (6)	– (–)
7	8	ROC	ROC	3:12.20	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Andrey Minakov		–	0.63	22.77	47.71 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Vladislav Grinev		–	0.08	22.47	47.94 (6)	1:35.65 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Vladimir Morozov		–	0.12	22.30	48.15 (6)	2:23.80 (7)
Anchor	–	Kliment Kolesnikov		–	0.30	22.94	48.40 (8)	– (–)
8	2	Brazil	BRA	3:13.41	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Breno Correia		–	0.63	23.38	48.69 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Pedro Spajari		–	0.21	22.31	48.24 (7)	1:36.93 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Gabriel Santos		–	0.23	22.92	48.76 (8)	2:25.69 (8)
Anchor	–	Marcelo Chierighini		–	0.09	22.23	47.72 (5)	– (–)