Olympics: Women’s and Men’s Medley Relay Lineups Posted; USA Men Go With Murphy, Andrew, Dressel, Apple

Jul 31, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Michael Andrew (USA) before the men's 50m freestyle semifinals during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports

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Olympics: Women’s and Men’s Medley Relay Lineups Posted; USA Men Go With Murphy, Andrew, Dressel, Apple

As always, the last two events at the Olympics will be the women’s 400 medley relay and then the men’s 400 medley relay. Both relays will showcase some of the stars of these Games competing for medals in a team format, and the various contending countries will be aiming to put the perfect finish on their meet. Except extremely tight races in both events, with the U.S. and Australian women projected to battle for gold while on the men’s side, Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia are among the primary contenders. There were no significant surprises among the lineups.

For the women, the Americans will swim 100 back bronze medalist Regan Smith, 100 breast gold medalist Lydia Jacoby, 100 fly fourth-place finisher Torri Huske and 100 free eighth-place finisher Abbey Weitzeil. The Australians counter with 100 back gold medalist Kaylee McKeown, 100 breast ninth-place finisher Chelsea Hodges, 100 fly bronze medalist Emma McKeon and 100 free bronze medalist Cate Campbell. Canada, the top qualifier and leading contender for bronze, will have 100 back silver medalist Kylie Masse, 200 IM finalist Sydney Pickrem handling the breaststroke leg, 100 fly gold medalist Maggie MacNeil and 100 free fourth-place finisher Penny Oleksiak.

Check out the full lineups for the women’s relay here.

In the men’s relay, the Americans are undefeated on the Olympic level (excluding the boycotted 1980 Olympics), but this year’s team will swim out of lane one after a poor effort in Friday evening’s prelims. 100 back bronze medalist Ryan Murphy, 100 breast fourth-place finisher Michael Andrew, 100 fly gold medalist Caeleb Dressel and 100 free 10th-place finisher Zach Apple will compete for the United States. Andrew was a bit of a question mark for this event because it has been a week full of struggles for the 22-year-old first-time Olympian, but the American coaches gave him the nod even though he will have the 50 free final one hour earlier in the session. Zach Apple will anchor in his first race since fading in the 800 free relay Wednesday, but he previously anchored the 400 free relay to gold in 46.69.

Great Britain, which ran down the United States to win gold at last year’s World Championships, will deploy the same team that topped the podium in Gwangju: Luke GreenbankAdam PeatyJames Guy and Duncan Scott. Top-seeded Italy will go with Thomas CecconNicolo Martinenghi, Federico Burdisso and Alessandro Miressi, while Russia will have Evgeny Rylov going first and Kliment Kolesnikov last. Australia, competing in lane seven, will anchor with Kyle Chalmers.

Check out the full lineups for the men’s relay here.

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