The United States men’s 4×100-meter medley relay team stormed to victory and a new world record of 3 minutes, 26.78 seconds at today’s competition in Tokyo.
While Ryan Murphy jumped out to an early lead in the backstroke, Michael Andrew eventually fell a few seconds behind Team GB’s Adam Peaty.
Caeleb Dressel, however, staged a remarkable return to take the lead over Team GB, and his colleague Zach Apple sealed the triumph by touching the wall first, earning gold for Team USA in a new world record time of 3:26.78.
When you have the fastest American breaststroker of all time and the current and former world record holders in Dressel and Murphy in front of you, it’s hard to mess that up. Apple exclaimed, “I had it easy over there.
“It’s such an honour to represent the USA, especially in relays, and to come home with gold and a world record is the icing on the cake,” he said.
Murphy shared their elation at the team’s triumph and praised the Organizing committee for a successful Olympic Games.
The 26-year-old swimmer remarked, “It’s a big job to hold an Olympics, especially in a pandemic.” All we’ve heard for the past two years is how difficult it will be to pull together these Olympics.
“We made it through the swimming, we won the competition, and we were able to compete in every event. This is a tremendous feat on Japan’s side.
As Team GB’s Luke Greenbank, Adam Peaty, James Guy, and Duncan Scott broke the European record with a time of 3:27.51 to win silver, further records fell.
Thomas Ceccon, Nicolo Martinenghi, Federico Burdisso, and Alessandro Miressi of Italy won bronze with a time of 3 minutes, 29 seconds, and 17 seconds.
Dressel is Expected to Win Five Medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Dressel has added two more gold medals to his collection after placing first in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter medley relay.
I tried to tell myself that this competition was identical to the one at the world championships, but it’s much different.
I’m not going to kid myself anymore; I know that preparing for an event that occurs once every four years requires a different mindset than preparing for an event that takes place over the course of forty seconds or twenty seconds, as the US star recently said.
We’ve had five years to prepare for this moment, and you have to be absolutely great in that time. Your entire life may be summed up in those 20 or 40 seconds, and the strain is immense. Just how insane is that?
