{"id":482921,"date":"2021-07-25T17:58:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T00:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=482921"},"modified":"2021-07-25T18:04:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T01:04:24","slug":"olympics-mens-400-free-relay-lineups-released-caeleb-dressel-leading-off-for-usa-in-tokyo-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympics-mens-400-free-relay-lineups-released-caeleb-dressel-leading-off-for-usa-in-tokyo-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympics: Men’s 400 Free Relay Lineups Released; Caeleb Dressel Leading Off For USA in Tokyo Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympics: Men’s 400 Free Relay Lineups Released; Caeleb Dressel Leading Off For USA in Tokyo Debut<\/strong><\/p>\n

The full start lists are out for the men’s 400 free relay final at the Tokyo Olympics, and as expected, superstar\u00a0Caeleb Dressel<\/strong> will lead off for the United States in his first race of the meet. Dressel first led off for the Americans at the 2016 Olympics, and he also filled the spot at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships. The Americans have won gold in all those races.<\/p>\n

Following Dressel will be\u00a0Blake Pieroni<\/strong>,\u00a0Bowe Becker<\/strong> and\u00a0Zach Apple<\/strong>, the same trio that swam the last three legs in the Americans’ prelims relay. Dressel replaces\u00a0Brooks Curry<\/strong> from the squad that qualified second behind Italy Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

Top-seeded Italy, which swam\u00a0Alessandro Miressi<\/strong>,\u00a0Santo Condorelli<\/strong>,\u00a0Lorenzo Zazzeri<\/strong> and\u00a0Manuel Frigo<\/strong> in prelims, will replace Condorelli with\u00a0Thomas Ceccon<\/strong>. Ceccon also will compete in the 100 back semifinals shortly before the relay.<\/p>\n

Russia, considered a favorite in the event prior to the meet but only the eighth qualifier for the final, will swim a group of\u00a0Andrei Minakov<\/strong>,\u00a0Vladislav Grinev<\/strong>,\u00a0Vladimir Morozov<\/strong> and\u00a0Kliment Kolesnikov<\/strong>. Kolesnikov replaced\u00a0Aleksandr Shchegolev<\/strong>, who had a disappointing 49.13 anchor split in prelims. Kolesnikov owns the second-fastest time in the world in the 100 free at 47.31, but he will also be in the 100 back semis shortly before the relay final. Meanwhile, Russia chose not to use\u00a0Evgeny Rylov<\/strong> on this squad, even though he has split 47.02 on this relay in the past.<\/p>\n

Australia, seeded third, will bring in\u00a0Matthew Temple<\/strong> for\u00a0Cameron McEvoy<\/strong> on the leadoff leg, while Kyle Chalmers<\/strong>, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 free, will anchor.<\/p>\n

Check out the full lineups below:<\/p>\n

\"400-free-relay-men\"<\/p>\n